solo
- a musical composition or a passage or section in a musical composition written for performance by one singer or instrumentalist, with or without accompaniment: She sang a solo.
- any performance, as a dance, by one person.
- a flight in an airplane during which the pilot is unaccompanied by an instructor or other person: I'll be ready for my first solo next week.
- a person who works, acts, or performs alone: He used to sing with a quartet, but now he's a solo.
- a person who performs or accomplishes something without the usual equipment, tools, etc.
- Informal. an announcement, commercial offering, etc., made to only one person or a selected group of such persons: Each month the firm sends a solo to its best customers.
- Cards. any of certain games in which one person plays alone against others.
- Music. performing alone: a part for solo bassoon.
- performed alone; not combined with other parts of equal importance; not concerted.
- alone; without a companion or partner: a solo flight.
- on one's own; alone or unaccompanied: After six lessons he was flying solo.
- to perform or do a solo: to solo on the trumpet.
- to pilot a plane, glider, etc., unaccompanied, especially for the first time: After the course the students should be able to solo.
- to perform or accomplish something by oneself.
- to pilot (a plane, glider, etc.) unaccompanied.
- to allow (a student pilot) to pilot a plane, glider, etc., alone: The instructor decided to solo the student.
Origin of solo
Solo
- former name of Surakarta.
Related Words for solo
unaccompanied, single, individual, solitary, stag, friendless, unmarried, unaided, unassisted, unescortedExamples from the Web for solo
Contemporary Examples of solo
He started out with solo flights, but in this session over the desert outside Dubai he really pushes the envelope.
The mini- Monet, as many have come to know him, had his first solo exhibition shortly after.
Instead of that typical thing of playing solo after solo—been there, done that.
I remember practicing that lick [from the solo “Round Midnight” recording] years ago, learning how to do that cascade effect.
I don't mean he proved that a thirty- or forty-minute solo is necessarily better than a three-minute one.
Historical Examples of solo
Stanton sang a solo, and then all joined in “Auld Lang Syne.”
The Long Labrador TrailDillon Wallace
We had been going through the solo soprano parts of the “Paradise Lost.”
The First ViolinJessie Fothergill
One of the preachers sang a solo, and presided at the organ.
A Woman who went to AlaskaMay Kellogg Sullivan
The work is written for four solo voices, chorus, and orchestra.
The Standard OratoriosGeorge P. Upton
That is the solo of human life overpowered by hallelujah chorus.
The Wedding RingT. De Witt Talmage
solo
- plural -los or -li (-liː) a musical composition for one performer with or without accompaniment
- any of various card games in which each person plays on his own instead of in partnership with another, such as solo whist
- a flight in which an aircraft pilot is unaccompanied
- any performance, mountain climb, or other undertaking carried out by an individual without assistance from others
- (as modifier)a solo attempt
- music unaccompanieda sonata for cello solo
- by oneself; aloneto fly solo
- (intr) to undertake a venture alone, esp to operate an aircraft alone or climb alone
Word Origin for solo
Word Origin and History for solo
1690s, "piece of music for one voice or instrument," from Italian solo, literally "alone," from Latin solus "alone" (see sole (adj.)). As an adjective in English from 1712, originally in the non-musical sense of "alone, unassisted;" in reference to aircraft flying from 1909. The verb is first attested 1858 in the musical sense, 1886 in a non-musical sense. Related: Soloed; soloing.