vandalizing

verb

present participle of vandalize
as in destroying
to deliberately cause the damage or destruction of another's property he decided to vandalize the store because the owner had kicked him out

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of vandalizing In August, Kuna had at least two incidents of people vandalizing or stealing the license-plate readers, Emily Walker, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, told the Statesman Thursday. — Idaho Statesman, 20 Sep. 2026 That would let prosecutors ask a grand jury to charge Hearn again if new evidence were discovered implicating him in vandalizing the pool. — Dan Mangan, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2026 However, charges were dropped against several people accused of vandalizing the pool. — Mike Stunson, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2026 An Ohio man accused of vandalizing Vice President JD Vance’s Cincinnati home earlier this year pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday, officials said. — Bonny Chu, FOXNews.com, 2 Sep. 2026 News outlets have reported a growing number of allegations of misuse by police in other parts of the country, as well as instances of people vandalizing the cameras — something also happening here. — Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Aug. 2026 Surveillance video appears to show the man vandalizing the statue and then entering the SEPTA 5th Street station through the southeast stairs. — Laura Fay, CBS News, 19 Aug. 2026 Trump blamed the sealant issues on vandalism without providing evidence, and felony charges were brought against a former Olympic canoeist, David Hearn, after he was accused of vandalizing the pool. — Matthew Daly, Chicago Tribune, 13 Aug. 2026 The clash followed Pirro’s decision to drop a felony case accusing a former Olympic canoeist of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, according to a source. — Daniela Suarez, NBC news, 5 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for vandalizing
  1. destroying
  2. defacing
  3. demolishing
  4. smashing
  5. ruining
  6. trashing
  7. violating
  8. damaging
Verb
  • Sign up for the newsletter When the rain does fall, Kabul’s hard, impermeable surfaces mean the water doesn’t replenish aquifers, but instead sweeps through the city as flash floods, destroying homes, killing people and rolling away.
    — Laura Paddison, CNN Money, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Space debris is generated not only by kinetic space weapons but also when satellites collide and get smashed into countless fragments and smaller particles that travel at high velocity and are capable of destroying or damaging more spacecraft.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of destroying
Verb
  • Over the weekend, ShinyHunters boasted about hijacking and defacing CLOP’s site on the dark web with an image of a Pokémon.
    — Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Trump, in one of his Truth Social posts, cited laws against defacing monuments as grounds for imprisoning anyone harming the pool.
    — Nathan Ellgren, Chicago Tribune, 22 June 2026
Definition of defacing
Verb
  • This is not the first time a coach in LAUSD has gotten into trouble trying to improve a facility, with the district issuing disciplinary action and demolishing the improvement because it was not authorized.
    — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2026
  • On Thursday, the judge ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days' notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of demolishing
Verb
  • But of the leaders of those three mega-bands, perhaps the most mysterious remains Pete Townshend, The Who’s songwriter and enigmatic eminence, thrashing chords and smashing guitars while Roger Daltrey handled lead vocals.
    — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 3 Oct. 2026
  • How would Flock stop someone from smashing a car window in the dead of night on a street where no camera is watching?
    — Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of smashing
Verb
  • As wet electrodes get thicker, the liquid binder migrates unevenly during drying, ruining the battery‘s structure.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Seaver also allegedly threatened to start a podcast dedicated to ruining Parton’s image unless he was paid.
    — Allison DeGrushe, StyleCaster, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of ruining
Verb
  • Instead, seal them in a dark plastic bag and bake them in direct sun for a few weeks to kill all seeds and roots before trashing them, or send them to a commercial or municipal composting facility.
    — Manjot Kaur Sidhu, The Conversation, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Friends told her that in the dining hall, where copies of the Review are often scattered like birdseed, some students were trashing the column.
    — Jesse Dougherty, New Yorker, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of trashing
Verb
  • The group formally processed the vessel’s departure and was trying to avoid violating Panamanian law.
    — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 2 Oct. 2026
  • San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York has been suspended for six regular-season games and fined $500,000 for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, the league announced Friday.
    — Erick Mendoza, NBC news, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of violating
Verb
  • David Hearn, the former Olympics canoeist accused of damaging Washington's Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool before prosecutors dropped the case, cannot be recharged, a judge has ruled.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Meanwhile, on the charging case, iFixit struggled to access its components without damaging the external plastic.
    — Jibin Joseph, PC Magazine, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of damaging

Browse Nearby Words

vandalizes
vandalizing
vandals
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Cite this Entry

“Vandalizing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vandalizing. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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