Sister almost trips avoiding duke in shades (7)
I believe the answer is:
nuances
'shades' is the definition.
('nuance' can be a synonym of 'shade')
'sister almost trips avoiding duke' is the wordplay.
'sister almost' becomes 'nu' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'trips' becomes 'dances' (I've seen this before).
'avoiding' suggests deleting specific letters.
'duke' becomes 'd'.
'dances' with 'd' taken out is 'ances'.
'nu'+'ances'='NUANCES'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for nuances that I've seen before include "subtle shades" , "'Subtle variations, in meaning perhaps (7)'" , "Suspicion of" , "Fine shades (of meaning)" , "Subtle distinctions or variations" .)