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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

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

Yet that’s likely just the opening salvo of a disruptive weather system that could affect the 38-day competition, which kicks off next week with games in Mexico, Canada and the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026

But Kuwait said it received 30 Iranian missiles and drones—a wartime salvo by any reckoning.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026

Another salvo of three bombs exploded as Tom Bolles’s boys passed the finish line an astonishing five lengths ahead of Syracuse.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

But as the price of his satellite service increased, De Salvo cut the cord in 2021 and declined to follow the team to its new TV home on a competing pay channel.

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

He has respect from his peers too with Germany boss Antonio di Salvo, a former Bayern Munich forward, recognising the job Carsley has done.

From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2025

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

It hung above the dumpy freighter, and there were salvoes of all the guns in the fleet.

From The Invaders by Murray Leinster

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

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

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

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

Related Words

• barrage
• bombardment
• volley