Standing in street, American receives thanks (6)
I believe the answer is:
status
'standing' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'street american receives thanks' is the wordplay.
'street' becomes 'st' (abbreviation).
'american' becomes 'US' (United States).
'receives' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are received).
'thanks' becomes 'ta' (UK informal version of 'thank you').
'st'+'us'='stus'
'stus' placed around 'ta' is 'STATUS'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for status that I've seen before include "Rank or position in society" , "One's position or rank relative to others" , "Social ranking" , "Position eg in society" , "Importance, standing" .)