Bread for example not fresh, but quietly accepted (6)
I believe the answer is:
staple
'bread for example' is the definition.
(bread is a staple food)
'but quietly accepted' is the wordplay.
'but' becomes 'stale' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'quietly' becomes 'p' (p for piano and quiet).
'accepted' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'stale' enclosing 'p' is 'STAPLE'.
'not fresh' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
(Other definitions for staple that I've seen before include "Short U-shaped paper fastener" , "Main, important" , "Fastening device" , "A wire paper fastener for plates" , "Main - way to fasten paper" .)