Vandalism is the crime of destroying property for the sake of destroying it. Broken glass, sprayed walls, a bus shelter kicked in.
The absence of any gain is what defines it, which is what separates vandalism from theft. It is a mass noun and a criminal offence, usually charged in Britain as criminal damage. The person is a vandal, named after the Vandals, a Germanic people who sacked Rome in 455 and got a very long-lasting bad reputation out of it. Cultural vandalism means destroying something of historic value.
1nounvandalismDeliberate destruction of property for no purpose.
“The shelter was closed after repeated vandalism.”
French
vandalisme
English, today
vandalism
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. by surface analysis, vandal + -ism.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA