solo
- 1Carried out by one person, without a companion or instructor.
The student pilot completed her solo flight after months of training.
He attempted a solo ascent of the peak, refusing any guide.
UsageUse it before a noun: a solo flight, a solo climb. In fly solo, solo is an adverb.
Similarlone, solitary, unaccompanied, single-handed, unassisted
Oppositeaccompanied, guided, joint
- 2By oneself, without a companion.
After years in the band, she finally performed solo.
The climber attempted the route solo, without any support team.
UsageOften go solo: leave a group to work alone.
Similaralone, single-handedly, independently
Note
George Michael's narrator in Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (1984) says he has no plans to go solo. In Ian Youngs's 2024 BBC report, Celine Dion "went solo on the Eiffel Tower" instead of singing a duet. Paul McCartney's Two of Us (1970) uses the word in the plainer sense of simply being alone.
- 3A piece of music written for a single performer.
The composer wrote a demanding solo for the lead cellist.
During the recital, each student performed a short piano solo.
UsageThe usual plural is solos.
Note
Music took the word straight from Italian, where solo means 'alone', from Latin sōlus. A solo can stand entirely unaccompanied, or it can rise out of an ensemble that steps back to support it, such as a cello line over an orchestra.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- English borrowed solo directly from Italian; the Italian word derives from Latin sōlus. en.wiktionary.org
- Italian solo means alone. en.wiktionary.org
- A musical solo may be unaccompanied or supported by other instruments. en.wikipedia.org
- 4Relating to or intended for a musical solo.
The composer is known for her demanding solo repertoire.
This sonata includes a famous solo passage for the oboe.
UsageUsually before a noun: solo repertoire, the solo part.
- 5A task or performance carried out by a single person without assistance.
The expedition was essentially a solo, with no support crew at all.
His winter solo across the frozen lake took four days, with no one to help him.
- 6To carry out something on one's own, in the absence of anyone else.
The pilot soloed the aircraft for the first time that morning.
He chose to solo the renovation rather than hire any help.
Less common meanings
- 7To play or sing a featured passage alone within a larger piece.
The saxophonist soloed for nearly two minutes.
Each band member gets to solo once during the set.
- 8
- 9A card game resembling whist, without fixed partnerships, in which players bid to win a stated number of tricks, usually alone against the others but sometimes with a temporary partner.
The four of them settled in for an evening of solo.
He won the last three hands of solo.
Note
A member of the whist family that does without fixed partnerships. Usually one player undertakes to win a stated number of tricks alone, and the others combine against that bid.
- 10In Gaelic football, an instance of toe-kicking the ball up into one's own hands while running.
- 11In Gaelic football, to drop the ball onto the foot and toe-kick it upward back into the hands.
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Origin
English took solo from the Italian word solo. Its Latin ancestor is sōlus, which may be connected with se, meaning "himself."