Little tense before Queen gets severe (6)
I believe the answer is:
bitter
'severe' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'little tense before queen' is the wordplay.
'little' becomes 'bit' (I've seen this in other clues**).
'tense' becomes 't' (abbreviation used in many dictionaries).
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'queen' becomes 'er' (abbreviation for Elizabeth Regina).
'bit'+'t'+'er'='BITTER'
'gets' is the link.
(Other definitions for bitter that I've seen before include "Sour like some English beer" , "Dry ale in the UK" , "drink" , "Resentful about English beer?" , "Sour tasting, like English ale" .)