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Glite Dictionary
🎼 For one performer 🎸 A performance alone 🧑‍🦯 Alone ✈️ A flight alone ✈️ To fly alone 🎸 To perform alone
to solo

to solo

3 5.4
To fly a plane alone without a co-pilot or passengers
  • verb
  • /ˈsoʊloʊ/
translation icon : volar solo
  • After weeks of training, she was finally ready to solo the aircraft on her own.

Examples

  • As I was reaching to switch the radio from tower to ground control frequency, Ducco radioed the tower, asking if he could solo his student—me!

    Fiction book (1994)

  • I remember the first time I soloed in an F-14 Tomcat.

    Arachnid (2001)

  • Finally, Ducco told me during one lesson that he thought I was ready to solo.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Ducco would tell me I was ready to solo, and I would make a serious error during a flight maneuver.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • I soloed and did the required cross-country stuff, but never got my license.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The flight instructor announced that he would allow the student to solo for the first time next week.

  • He felt a mixture of excitement and nerves as he prepared to solo his first flight at the airfield.

Synonyms

to go it alone
vsto solo
  • Informal
26 5.3

To do something without help from other people

means piloting an aircraft by oneself rather than with crew or passengers
to fly solo
vsto solo
  • Informal
14 4.8

To act or work alone without help from others

refers specifically to flying an aircraft alone without crew or passengers

Phrasal Verbs

to fly solo
  • Informal
14 4.8

To act or work alone without help from others

Compounds

solo homer
  • Jargon
1 6.5

A home run hit when no one is on base that scores one run

shred guitar solo
  • Jargon
7.9

A very fast guitar solo that shows great skill

solo blast
  • Jargon
6.4

A home run with no other players on base that scores one run

Solo man
  • Specialized
9.9

An extinct early human known from fossils found in Java

How Big

peloton
  • Specialized
3 6.7
paceline
  • Jargon
1 8.2
gruppetto
  • Jargon
9.9
to solo
3 5.4

Surface Forms

solo infinitive
soloed past
soloed past participle
soloing present participle
solos third person singular

Etymology

Solo comes from the Latin solus, meaning 'alone', and shares the same root as English sole ('only'). So when a pilot solos, they fly by themselves without a co-pilot or passengers.