Sentence:  The only performance which <WSD>was</WSD> too soft for me was that of Yvette Mimieux , but since someone had to become the victim of despoilers , just to emphasize that such things do happen at these fracases , I suppose this was the attitude the part called for . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)