Smothered with water? (7)
I believe the answer is:
drowned
'smothered' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'with water?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'with' could be 'w' (short for with) and 'w' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'droned' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for drowned that I've seen before include "Submerged, flooded" , "Lost at sea" , "Died underwater" , "Suffocated in water" , "Died by submersion" .)