vandalism

[van-dl-iz-uhm]

noun

1. deliberately mischievous or malicious destruction or damage of property.

   vandalism of public buildings.

2. the conduct or spirit characteristic of the Vandals.

3. willful or ignorant destruction of artistic or literary treasures.

4. a vandalic act.

vandalism

/ ˈvændəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. the wanton or deliberate destruction caused by a vandal or an instance of such destruction

Other Word Forms

• vandalistic adjective
• vandalish adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of vandalism¹

1790–1800; vandal + -ism; compare French vandalisme

Example Sentences

They have been largely peaceful, though some nights have seen spates of violence and vandalism.

Read more on Barron's

And New York is not the easiest place to market an AI product — something the wearable AI startup Friend.com discovered when its recent subway advertisements were met with anti-AI vandalism.

Read more on MarketWatch

Verizon customers reported service outages across Los Angeles County after vandalism of fiber optic cables, a spokesperson for the company said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

In hours of questioning, the judge questioned whether the level of vandalism, clashes with ICE officers and other protests in Chicago warranted federal intervention beyond local law enforcement.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Nick McGowan-Lowe, national organiser for Scotland at the National Union of Journalists, described the move to cut the Aberdeen programme as an act of "cultural vandalism".

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• mischief