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• salvo
  salvo

  noun

  a simultaneous or successive discharge of artillery, bombs, etc.
• Salvo
  Salvo

  noun

  a member of the Salvation Army

salvo

¹ American  

[sal-voh] / ˈsæl voʊ /

noun

• salvos,
  plural
• salvoes
  plural

1. a simultaneous or successive discharge of artillery, bombs, etc.

2. a round of fire given as a salute.

3. a round of cheers or applause.

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salvo ² American  

[sal-voh] / ˈsæl voʊ /

noun

Archaic.

• salvos
  plural

1. an excuse or quibbling evasion.

2. something to save a person's reputation or soothe a person's feelings.

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salvo ¹ British  

/ ˈsælvəʊ /

noun

1. a discharge of fire from weapons in unison, esp on a ceremonial occasion

2. concentrated fire from many weapons, as in a naval battle

3. an outburst, as of applause

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salvo ² British  

/ ˈsælvəʊ /

noun

1. an excuse or evasion

2. an expedient to save a reputation or soothe hurt feelings

3. (in legal documents) a saving clause; reservation

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Salvo ³ British  

/ ˈsælvəʊ /

noun

1. slang a member of the Salvation Army

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• salvoes
  plural
• salvos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of salvo¹

1585–95; earlier salva < Italian ≪ Latin salvē salve ³

Origin of salvo²

1635–45; < Latin salvō, ablative of salvus safe, found in legal phrases

Explanation

A salvo is when troops fire their guns all at the same time. A salvo of shots might signal the beginning of a military battle. Another word for the gunfire kind of salvo is a "volley." Military planners have used salvos as a way to overwhelm an opposing army, including during engagements between battleships and tanks. You can also use salvo in a more figurative way, describing a verbal barrage or attack: "Her direct, almost rude questions were seen as the opening salvo in the battle between the two political candidates."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

salvo Salvo salvoes salvos

The burger wars are back, with the latest salvo coming from Burger King.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

But it was the sight of loosehead prop Ox Nche stampeding through Ollie Chessum and Jamie George, with the England defence desperately, vainly backpedalling, that summed up a brutally chastening opening salvo.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

In his opening salvo as the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh pushed back on the central bank’s practice of providing markets with signals on future rate policy.

From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026

In the first salvo of a potentially ugly labor battle, the 30 franchises proposed a ceiling for the first time in more than 30 years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026

I hung my head in shame, expecting a salvo of laughter.

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane

In an update on Wednesday, head of the Sicilian Civil Protection Salvo Cocina said there had been more than 350 fires on the island including ten major ones which led to precautionary evacuations.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

Fans like Stacey De Salvo have had enough.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

The bulk of Maniscalco’s most recognizable bits revolve around stories about his hairdresser father, Salvo, whose no-nonsense immigrant wisdom is exported from the old country.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2024

The last time that Donna De Salvo, a senior adjunct curator at Dia, worked with McQueen, in 2016, she was chief curator at the Whitney Museum, where they showed “End Credits.”

From New York Times ● May 10, 2024

Over the wire I tapped, 'D 238 Battery, Target Seventeen, Range 6000, three degrees, thirty minutes, left, Salvo, Fire.'

From Over the Top by Arthur Guy Empey

With the official status of talks between Washington and Tehran uncertain and ahead of a meeting in Pakistan on Monday with key regional players, daily salvoes of strikes across the region have continued unabated.

From Barron's ● Mar. 29, 2026

Gen Surovikin, who has a reputation for harsh methods, said Ukraine's Himars salvoes had damaged Kherson's Antonivsky Bridge and the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, blocking traffic along those key arteries.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2022

The tone of the early salvoes dismayed Noura Bittar Søborg, a Syrian asylum seeker who fled Homs in 2011 and has managed to bring her father, mother and younger sister to Denmark.

From The Guardian ● May 30, 2015

Artillery salvoes were fired from an area that Nalyvaichenko said is under the control of a Cossack unit manned by Russian citizens.

From US News ● Feb. 15, 2015

All round there is thundering and roaring, as of some enormous waterfall, with explosions like cannon salvoes.

From Farthest North Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship 'Fram' 1893-1896 Vol. I by Fridtjof Nansen

We are already seeing the first salvos of this escalated warfare.

From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2026

The first salvos in a drone attack help to identify the location of Russian air-defense systems, allowing the Ukrainians to determine where other unmanned aerial vehicles can find a way through, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

"Within days, however, Iran had shifted to smaller, more precisely targeted salvos, conserving remaining missiles and drones for specific high-value targets and concentrating fire where even near-misses cause significant damage."

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026

Powell's remarks helped investors turn from the latest trade salvos between Washington and Beijing, with Trump last week threatening 100-percent tariffs owing to Chinese rate earth measures.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2025

Every day, the first minutes of class would be filled by harsh salvos of criticism aimed at Mr. Loring’s round, assailable figure leaning against his lectern.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

Related Words

• barrage
• bombardment
• volley