To vandalize means to deliberately damage or deface property that belongs to someone else. When someone vandalizes a park bench by carving words into it, spray-paints graffiti on a school wall, or smashes windows in an abandoned building, they're destroying something that took time, effort, and money to create.

Vandalism differs from accidental damage. If you knock over a lamp while playing catch indoors, that's careless but not vandalism. Vandalism requires intent: the person means to damage or mark up the property. Someone who vandalizes is called a vandal.

Today, vandalism includes everything from scratching desks to breaking streetlights to defacing public art. Even seemingly small acts like peeling stickers off library books or carving initials into trees count as vandalism because they damage property that doesn't belong to you.

Communities spend enormous amounts of money repairing vandalized property, money, time, and resources that could have gone toward building new playgrounds, fixing roads, or funding programs. When you see something vandalized, you're seeing someone's disrespect for shared spaces and other people's work.