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Definition
to come to understandFathom can also refer to a unit of measure for water depth (6 feet), or to the act of measuring the depth of water.
- I can't fathom why anyone would want to make themselves unhappy listening to political news all day.
fathom = understand
- I can't fathom what she sees in him.
- For reasons unfathomable to the most experienced prophets in Maycomb County, autumn turned to winter that year.Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird
- He still had trouble fathoming the path his life had suddenly taken, nor could he reconcile it with the life he once had lived.Nicholas Sparks -- The Longest Ride
- Few nations are more deeply eaten by that ulcer of convents which I have endeavored to fathom.Victor Hugo -- Les Miserables
- If they have any success, it will be in transferring the problem of fathoming to the presumably adult reader, to the inner circle of listeners.Toni Morrison -- The Bluest Eye
- He hated her with a passion that she could not even fathom.Stieg Larsson -- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
- She may not have been immortal anymore, but she still had a grace and easiness about her that I could not fathom.Rick Riordan -- The Hidden Oracle
- My thoughts are stars I can't fathom into constellations.John Green -- The Fault in Our Stars
- Can anyone fathom the workings of a drunken man's mind?Yann Martel -- Life of Pi
- Another anchor was got ready and dropped in a fathom and a half of water.Robert Louis Stevenson -- Treasure Island
- It was as though I were caught in a more monstrous conspiracy whose meaning I could not fathom.Robert Penn Warren -- All the King's Men
- Frederic had never been a man of action, and now so much action was going on that he could hardly fathom it.Orson Scott Card -- Red Prophet
- Here in the bowels of this red lake she was now a stunning breed, and the thought of it filled her with a thrill she could hardly fathom.Ted Dekker -- White: The Great Pursuit
- Well, I do not know that this place contains any secret which we have not already fathomed.Arthur Conan Doyle -- The Hound of the Baskervilles
- — Fancying you to have fathomed his secret.Jane Austen -- Emma
- Amanda couldn't fathom the thought of eating.Nicholas Sparks -- The Best of Me
- Yes, Melanie had a way with children that Scarlett could never fathom.Margaret Mitchell -- Gone with the Wind
- It's hard for her to fathom.Christina Baker Kline -- Orphan Train
- "Full fathom five thy father lies," Leah said back to her.Barbara Kingsolver -- The Poisonwood Bible
fathom = understand
unfathomable = not understandable
(Editor's note: The prefix "un-" in unfathomable means not and reverses the meaning of fathomable. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.)