Give way in the beginning by the sound of it (4)
I believe the answer is:
cede
'give way' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'beginning by the sound of it' is the wordplay.
'beginning' becomes 'seed' (seed is a kind of beginning).
'by the sound of it' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'seed' is a homophone of 'CEDE'.
'in the' is the link.
(Other definitions for cede that I've seen before include "Deliver" , "Give up (eg, power)" , "Surrender or relinquish possession" , "Give up one's rights" , "Relinquish control of" .)