Rising editor stopped dead (8)
I believe the answer is:
deceased
'dead' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'rising editor stopped' is the wordplay.
'rising' says the letters should be written backwards (going up in a down clue).
'editor' becomes 'ed' (abbreviation).
'stopped' becomes 'ceased' ('cease' can be a synonym of 'stop').
'ed' back-to-front is 'de'.
'de'+'ceased'='DECEASED'
(Other definitions for deceased that I've seen before include "Pushing up the daisies" , "Late" , "Recently dead" , "Totally bereft of life" , "No longer living" .)