The news was on, and the usual images of destruction and bombing, images we were now inured to. What is the best definition of inured?

Then all of his rancor took shape in a series of accusations that fell on me like blows from a whip. What is the best definition of the word rancor?

Something died that evening, but something else was born. And while my father shouted, waving his arms frenetically in the air, throwing stuff around the room, my mother and I understood that from that moment, we would have to manage on our own. What is the best definition of frenetically?

The world of dance was a rich and all-consuming one that I would never grow tired of. But unfortunately, it wasn’t my only world. There was another one that I had to live in, whether I liked it or not—my home life, which was completely different, made up of lies and subterfuge, of lowered gazes and silences, of feelings of guilt and frustration. What is the best definition of subterfuge?

Had he believed me? Or had he been astute enough to uncover my lie? What is the best definition of astute?

I’d managed not to think about my return home for the whole week, but now it was imminent, and I couldn’t pretend nothing was wrong. What is the best definition of imminent?

She, too, had her problems, but there was a tacit agreement between us never to talk about these things—we were always united and permanently on guard. What is the best definition of tacit?

He moved toward me quickly, as if in the throes of an uncontrollable instinct. What is the best definition of throes?

And my history danced with me—a grand jeté for every time I’d been told not to dance; an arabesque, tight and firm, for all those who humiliated me; a pirouette for every time I’d risked death because of a stupid war. What is the best definition of the word pirouette?