Vandalism

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈvændəlɪzm̩/

Definitions

1. The deliberate destruction or defacement of property belonging to others
2. The malicious intent to damage or destroy property owned by others encompasses acts that result in defacement or ruin of both public and private spaces
3. The act of purposely harming or spoiling someone else's property without permission

Etymology: The Vandals were a Germanic people who sacked Rome in 455, but the word that carries their name today was coined almost fifteen centuries later, during the French Revolution. In 1794, Henri Grégoire, a French bishop and revolutionary politician, used "vandalisme" to condemn the pillaging and smashing of works of art and monuments that was sweeping France at the time. He was not calling the rioters Vandals in any literal sense; he was reaching back to the ancient tribe's reputation for wanton destruction, which had become a kind of shorthand for barbarous ruin. The French term was then borrowed into English. The English noun is built in a simple way: "vandal" plus the suffix "-ism," which forms nouns for a practice or behaviour. The original sense was tied to damage against art and public monuments, and it widened over time to cover the deliberate defacement or destruction of any property belonging to others.

Synonyms: destruction, defacement, maliciousness

Antonyms: preservation, protection, safeguarding