Scolds engineers, proper, and succeeded (10)
I believe the answer is:
reprimands
'scolds' is the definition.
('reprimand' can be a synonym of 'scold')
'engineers proper and succeeded' is the wordplay.
'engineers' becomes 're' (Royal Engineers).
'proper' becomes 'prim' (similar in meaning).
'succeeded' becomes 's' (genealogical abbreviation).
're'+'prim'+'and'+'s'='REPRIMANDS'
(Other definitions for reprimands that I've seen before include "rebukes" , "carpets" .)