A person who needlessly destroys, defaces, or damages things, especially other people's property.
Used in a Sentence
vandal
Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for vandal.
Editorial note
But there's a mindset needed from most people before they make the jump from 'vandal' to 'artist' - or vandal artist!
Examples16
Definitions4
Parts of speech2
Quick take
A person who needlessly destroys, defaces, or damages things, especially other people's property.
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of vandal gathered in one view.
An extinct East Germanic language ascribed to have been spoken by the Vandals.
Of or relating to the Vandals.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for vandal.
noun
A person who needlessly destroys, defaces, or damages things, especially other people's property.
noun
An extinct East Germanic language ascribed to have been spoken by the Vandals.
adjective
Of or relating to the Vandals.
noun
(historical) A member of an ancient east Germanic tribe famous for sacking Rome.
Example sentences
But there's a mindset needed from most people before they make the jump from 'vandal' to 'artist' - or vandal artist!
We don't mock the choices made by Banksy (who on the surface is a vandal)...
I mean, let's say that a vandal deliberately broke a window, and this act is witnessed by a police officer.
Whether it was a paid employee or volunteer vandal doesn't really make the organization look worse or better.
Arresting the vandal doesn't fix the window, so why does the theory call for such an arrest?
In DC in the last year we had a vandal deface the Lincoln Memorial and the National Cathedral.
And the admins on IRC seem to have his ear on vandal fighting.
But Banksy is by any reasonable definitions both a vandal and an artist.
They're a vandal when they do it without permission on someone's property.
Luc Vandal wrote a good article [1] about it.
I don't see this being the kind of thing a vandal would do.
Perhaps we should each call our congresspeople and lobby for its immediate passage of that so we can go after this vandal in court...
Quote examples
There used to be a problem with "Vandal Patrol" - people would use tools to auto-revert edits and apply templates.
It's still horrible to break into someone's account and cause "them" to say something which will cause them to lose their job, but the vandal is not the only one at fault in that situation.
Also the "vandal patrol" style pages got leaned on.
(Removal of "vandal patrol"; stricter oversight of twinkle and rollback use; etc etc).
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use vandal in a sentence?
But there's a mindset needed from most people before they make the jump from 'vandal' to 'artist' - or vandal artist!
What does vandal mean?
A person who needlessly destroys, defaces, or damages things, especially other people's property.
What part of speech is vandal?
vandal is commonly used as noun, adjective.