Stopped being dead without leading pair (6)
I believe the answer is:
ceased
'stopped' is the definition.
('cease' can be a synonym of 'stop')
'dead without leading pair' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'dead' could be 'd' and 'd' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'cease' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'being' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ceased that I've seen before include "Stopped or discontinued" , "Came to a close" , "Terminated" , "Concluded" , "Stopped, ended" .)