vandalism

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   deliberate or reckless damage to public or private property

   The broken windows were treated as vandalism rather than accidental damage.

2. 2
   noun

   destructive disregard for works of art, culture, learning, or inherited institutions

   The critic called the demolition an act of cultural vandalism.

Borrowed from French vandalisme, coined in 1794 by Henri Gregoire while condemning destruction of art during the French Revolution. It invokes the Vandals, the Germanic people who sacked Rome in 455, though modern historians reject the stereotype of uniquely senseless destruction.

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