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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
Barbara Demick, New Yorker, 23 May 2025
Nazis set fire to synagogues — including the one attended by Lowell and her family — and vandalized thousands of Jewish homes and businesses, igniting a wave of violence that killed nearly 100 Jews and led to the arrests and deportations of thousands more.
—Lauren Costantino, Miami Herald, 14 May 2025
The backlash has led to worldwide boycotts and protests at dealerships, as well as its vehicles being vandalized and Tesla owners being mocked, all of which has led to a drastic drop in sales.
—Theo Burman, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 May 2025
My kind winds up getting burned and vandalized or on rocket ship to Mars (presumably one way).
—Pomerado News, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for vandalize
Cite this Entry
“Vandalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vandalize. Accessed 2 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
vandalize
verb
Legal Definition
vandalize
transitive verb
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