Crossword Genius

Drop down dead with such strong feeling (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

demotion

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'drop' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'down dead with such strong feeling' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'down' could be 'd' and 'd' is located in the answer.
'feeling' could be 'emotion' (emotion is a kind of feeling) and 'emotion' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for demotion that I've seen before include "A lowering in rank or position" , "Going down" , "being relegated" , "Forced loss of rank" , "Motioned about reduction in rank" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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