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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

As Robert O’Connell wrote this week, that was just the opening salvo.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 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 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

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 Seattle and in Sequim, people huddled around radios in their kitchens and parlors stood and cheered when they heard the final salvo.

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

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

For years, De Salvo, an elementary-school teacher who lives in Dana Point, Calif., subscribed to a regional sports network to watch his beloved Los Angeles Dodgers.

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

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

I was introduced to the gentleman who had said "Salvo!"

From Now It Can Be Told by Philip Gibbs

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

Certain Russian and Chinese submarines can fire salvoes of precision-guided cruise missiles from afar, potentially overwhelming carrier-fleet anti-missile defense.

From Reuters ● Mar. 9, 2017

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

On landing at the head of his troops, Don John was greeted with flourishes of music, while salvoes of artillery thundered from the fortresses which commanded the city.

From History of The Reign of Philip The Second King of Spain Volume The Third and Biographical & Critical Miscellanies by William Hickling Prescott

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

From Salon ● Jul. 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

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

From BBC ● Nov. 20, 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