Frightening female given severe reprimand (7)
I believe the answer is:
fearful
'frightening' is the definition.
('fearful' can be a synonym of 'frightening')
'female given severe reprimand' is the wordplay.
'female' becomes 'f' (abbreviation).
'given' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'severe reprimand' becomes 'earful' (I've seen this before).
'f'+'earful'='FEARFUL'
(Other definitions for fearful that I've seen before include "awful!" , "Scared" , "Timid" , "Timorous; terrible" , "wary" .)