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At one point in Frodo’s journey in The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien depicts an ancient statue overlooking a crossroads: “Its head was gone, and in its place was set in mockery a round rough-hewn stone, rudely painted … in the likeness of a grinning face with one large red eye in the midst of its forehead.” The statue had been vandalized by orcs, but the roots of vandalize have more in common with the name of a Tolkien hero. Vandalize comes from the noun vandal, which was originally capitalized and referred to a member of a Germanic people who lived south of the Baltic Sea and sacked Rome in the year 455 CE. This sacking is what likely led to the use of the lower-case vandal for someone who damages or destroys property. The Late Latin word for such a Vandal was Vandalī, a word probably borrowed from a Germanic verb meaning “wend, turn” that also gave rise to the Old English Ēarendel, the name of a mythological figure that inspired Tolkien’s creation of Eärendil, a mariner who wends his way across the sky of Middle Earth carrying the morning star.
Examples of vandalize in a Sentence
Lux Butler, The Arizona Republic, 20 June 2024
The home of Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak was vandalized last week with red paint and an anti-Zionist message in what appeared to be a protest over the museum’s ties to Israel.
—Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2024
Just last week, 160 rainbow Pride flags lining New York City’s Stonewall National Monument for Pride Month were vandalized — for the second year in a row — according to police.
—Matt Lavietes, NBC News, 20 June 2024
About 7 months ago, on September 11, the Satanic Temple headquarters was vandalized with Bible verses spray painted in white, according to the affidavit.
—Rob Frehse, CNN, 14 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for vandalize 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'vandalize.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near vandalize
Cite this Entry
“Vandalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vandalize. Accessed 4 Jul. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
vandalize
verb
Legal Definition
vandalize
transitive verb
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