English corporation on the rise in silence (4)
I believe the answer is:
mute
'silence' is the definition.
(muting is a kind of silencing)
'english corporation on the rise' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'corporation' becomes 'tum' (I've seen this before).
'on the rise' says the letters should be written in reverse (in a down clue, letters go up).
'e'+'tum'='etum'
'etum' reversed gives 'MUTE'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for mute that I've seen before include "Silencer" , "Silent or speechless" , "Unable to speak" , "One refuses to answer" , "Unspeaking" .)