a simultaneous or successive discharge of artillery, bombs, etc.
a round of fire given as a salute.
a round of cheers or applause.
an excuse or quibbling evasion.
something to save a person's reputation or soothe a person's feelings.
a discharge of fire from weapons in unison, esp on a ceremonial occasion
concentrated fire from many weapons, as in a naval battle
an outburst, as of applause
an excuse or evasion
an expedient to save a reputation or soothe hurt feelings
(in legal documents) a saving clause; reservation
1585–95; earlier salva < Italian ≪ Latin salvē salve 3
1635–45; < Latin salvō, ablative of salvus safe, found in legal phrases
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."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
While a $44 million pre-seed funding round for one Chinese start-up may seem like a sudden windfall, it is actually the latest salvo in a tightening global race.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
Bass launched her first salvo over the weekend, as the tally of mail-in votes made clear that Raman would edge out Spencer Pratt to challenge her in the fall election.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 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
From the starting gun to the final salvo, they had rowed as if they could keep going at the same pace for another two miles or ten.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Fans like Stacey De Salvo have had enough.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
As the Eaton fire raged through Altadena, Begonya De Salvo was scrambling to figure out where her husband, two children and five pets would find shelter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2025
Sara Morel, CEO of Salvo, a Staffordshire-based architectural salvage firm, said the company had been asked to help re-home the collection to "preserve its future".
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 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
The inquisitor at that time was evidently a personage of influence, for Frà Salvo in fact was also confessor of the viceroy.
From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume II by Lea, Henry Charles
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
Aware of the threat, Mr Ramaphosa fired salvoes at his predecessor, without naming him.
From BBC ● May 26, 2024
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
He was met at a short distance from the town by the British escort, and conducted to the palace amid salvoes of Artillery.
From Scenes and Adventures in Affghanistan by Taylor, William
We are already seeing the first salvos of this escalated warfare.
From Salon ● Jul. 1, 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
Even as Iran fires regular salvos at the base, AFP did not see any signs of a heavy security presence there.
From Barron's ● Apr. 6, 2026
It would allow us to overwhelm our adversaries with large, affordable salvos of weapons that can be built and regenerated quickly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 2026
He too had felt that ascending chill of déjà vu as he read the opening salvos of Mendel’s paper.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
