Maliciously defacing, damaging or destroying someone’s property.
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Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property.
The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The term finds its roots in an Enlightenment view that the Germanic Vandals were a uniquely destructive people.
English
Etymology
From French vandalisme, first used by Henri Grégoire to decry the pillage and destruction of art in the course of the French Revolution, in reference to the East Germanic tribe of the Vandals, which looted Rome in 455.
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key