Sample sentences for FATHOM - verbalworkout.com

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Definition

to come to understand

Fathom 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.

fathom = understand

For reasons unfathomable to the most experienced prophets in Maycomb County, autumn turned to winter that year.
Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird

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.)

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

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