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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

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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

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From The Invaders by Murray Leinster

By summer 2025, Moscow was deploying hundreds of the drones in nighttime salvos.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

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

From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2026

The statement said the latest salvos were in response to attacks on its own steel industries.

From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 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

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Related Words

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