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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

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 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

Another drone salvo hit the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's terminal near the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk -- a key export route for Kazakh oil, partly owned by Chevron and Shell.

From Barron's ● Jul. 19, 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

The full and better-recorded salvo came late in 1800 and early in 1801, during the debate in the House of Representatives over the presidential deadlock between Burr and Jefferson.

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

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

As she scrambled to find a hotel room, De Salvo forgot to call in sick from her job as a court interpreter.

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

The residencia of Don Salvo Valasco was clearly visible from this site.

From Remember the Alamo by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr

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

Higher and higher rose the wind till it began to make a very heavy and constant booming in the chimney, like distant salvoes of great guns.

From The Spy in Black by J. Storer (Joseph Storer) Clouston

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

From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2026

The UAE and Qatar both said they had intercepted drone and missile salvos on Wednesday, with Abu Dhabi saying it had been targeted by three ballistic missiles and 129 drones, intercepting all but eight drones.

From Barron's ● Mar. 4, 2026

The IDF also said its defence systems had operated to intercept more salvos of Iranian missiles.

From BBC ● Mar. 4, 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

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

• barrage
• bombardment
• volley

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