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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 filings were the latest salvo in the ongoing fight between two of the most powerful entities in the global game.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

The suit is the latest salvo in a legal dispute that began in late 2025.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Martínez-Olguín’s order came after a hearing in Oakland on Friday that represented a first salvo between the two sides in the fight over a merger that would dramatically reshape the entertainment industry.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 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

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

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane

Eventually, De Salvo says, he “just lost interest” in the games.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

On Monday afternoon, little Salvo Bessemer was walking toward the family car when he suddenly stopped, turned around and sprinted back through the front gate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2026

The exhibits were in "fine condition", Salvo said, with more than 1,200 items dating back to the 1830s and up to the 1960s.

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

"What did she say about Salvo?" hissed the woman.

From The Motor Girls Through New England or, Held by the Gypsies by Margaret Penrose

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

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

There have been no fatalities in Israel, largely due to its Iron Dome anti-missile system, but the frequent rocket salvoes have disrupted life and sent hundreds of people racing to shelters.

From Reuters ● Jul. 15, 2014

Even Sailly-Labourse received almost daily salvoes from long-range guns.

From Q.6.a and Other places Recollections of 1916, 1917 and 1918 by Francis Buckley

Tehran responded with salvos of missiles and drones during the 12-day war, which also saw brief US involvement before a US-announced ceasefire halted the fighting.

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

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

That moment in Birmingham has been one of the few opening salvos to go the way of England, however.

From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2025

Rudolph Zam- bardino, a statistician at North Staffordshire Polytechnic, in England, has pointed out that the lack of direct data forces researchers into salvos of extrapolation.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Related Words

• barrage
• bombardment
• volley