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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
Leo Bertucci, The Courier-Journal, 10 July 2025
The residences of several University of Wisconsin Board of Regents members were vandalized with pro-Palestinian messages overnight on July 3, according to interviews and photos provided to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
—Kelly Meyerhofer, jsonline.com, 9 July 2025
Early reports show that more than a dozen people, wearing masks and black clothing, vandalized security cameras and cars parked outside the detention facility.
—Harriet Ramos
july 5, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 6 July 2025
Just eight days after Cox was released from jail last August with his six-month sentence suspended in favor of probation, his ex-girlfriend reported that her vehicle was vandalized while it was parked in the garage of her apartment complex, court filings show.
—Quinlan Bentley, The Enquirer, 2 July 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 16 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
vandalize
verb
Legal Definition
vandalize
transitive verb
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