The asymptotic solution of the Korteweg‐de Vries equationuτ+ ⅓uxxx+ 2uux= 0 for initial conditions from which no solitons evolve is obtained as a slowly varying similarity solution of the formτ−2/3(Vz−V2, whereV=V(z/τ) andz=τ−1/3x. The results are consistent with, but go somewhat beyond, those recently obtained by Ablowitz and Segur [2] through a rather diffe