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."
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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
In his opening salvo as Federal Reserve Chairman, Kevin Warsh pushed back on the practice of providing markets with signals on future rate policy.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
But this salvo is precision-guided to hit as about 5 billion viewers get hyped for the global tournament.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
It was just the opening salvo of a sustained critique that ran through the hearing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
He concluded with an Adams salvo against “the peevish and fretful effusions of politicians,” then signed off as “J.A. In the 89 year of his age still too fat to last much longer.”
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
A video tour was uploaded to the Salvo website, showing never-seen-before footage of the entire collection.
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
In a written statement released Saturday, the Rev. Enrique Salvo, pastor of Saint Patrick’s, thanked people he said had informed the church that they “share our outrage over the scandalous behavior” at the funeral.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 18, 2024
One June afternoon, as De Salvo was waiting to interpret for a Spanish-speaking defendant trying to accept a plea deal, a court manager appeared and asked her to cover a hearing in another courtroom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2023
When on August 1 the Roosevelt steamed out from Cape York, she had on board several Eskimo families which we had picked up there and at Salvo Island.
From The North Pole Its Discovery in 1909 under the auspices of the Peary Arctic Club by Peary, Robert E. (Robert Edwin)
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
It was while our ships were thus turning, and were, so to speak, bunched up in the loop formed by the turning operation, that they suffered severely from the enemy salvoes.
From The Harwich Naval Forces Their Part in the Great War by Knight, E. F. (Edward Frederick)
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
The statement said the latest salvos were in response to attacks on its own steel industries.
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
The IDF also said its defence systems had operated to intercept more salvos of Iranian missiles.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2026
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
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.
