A method and apparatus for selectively clipping waveforms prior to transmission in a multi-carrier wireless communication system is provided. The design includes estimating peak values of the composite multi-carrier signal, determining a local threshold set including one local threshold for each carrier based on a configurable total threshold representing a maximum aggregate signal level for a sum of all signals to be transmitted over the multiple carriers, and clipping one signal to be transmitted over one carrier when the signal exceeds a corresponding local threshold and a sum of all signals to be transmitted over multiple carriers exceed the total threshold. Alternately, the design may include estimating peak signal values for signals to be transmitted in the multi-carrier system, and selectively clipping any signal wherein at least one peak signal value exceeds a local threshold and peak signal values for a sum of all signals to be transmitted exceed a global threshold.