Apologist to give way, accepting conclusion (8)
I believe the answer is:
defender
'apologist' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'give way accepting conclusion' is the wordplay.
'give way' becomes 'defer' (I've seen this before).
'accepting' indicates putting letters inside.
'conclusion' becomes 'end' (end is a kind of conclusion).
'defer' placed around 'end' is 'DEFENDER'.
'to' is the link.
(Other definitions for defender that I've seen before include "Advocate" , "Football player" , "Back" , "One who protects others" , "Goalkeeper" .)