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Antonyms for fathom

Grammar : Verb
Spell : fath -uh m
Phonetic Transcription : ˈfæð əm

Definition of fathom

Origin :
  • Old English fæðm "length of the outstretched arm" (a measure of about six feet), also "arms, grasp," and, figuratively "power," from Proto-Germanic *fathmaz "embrace" (cf. Old Norse faðmr "embrace, bosom," Old Saxon fathmos "the outstretched arms," Dutch vadem "a measure of six feet"), from PIE *pot(e)-mo-, from root *pete- "to spread, stretch out" (see pace (n.)). There are apparent cognates in Old Frisian fethem, German faden "thread," which OED explains by reference to "spreading out."
  • verb discern, understand
Example sentences :
  • Sixty fathom of two-inch chain, and old Joe talks about parting.
  • Extract from : « Malbone » by Thomas Wentworth Higginson
  • But any attempt on his part to fathom it only met with cold silence.
  • Extract from : « K » by Mary Roberts Rinehart
  • "There's less than a fathom of water here, sir," sang out Johnson from the bows.
  • Extract from : « Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates » by Howard Pyle
  • The look in his eyes was both sad and savage--an expression I could not fathom.
  • Extract from : « In the Valley » by Harold Frederic
  • Miss Hernshaw didn't seek to fathom the mystery of his closing words.
  • Extract from : « Questionable Shapes » by William Dean Howells
  • Kirkwood groaned with despair of his inability to fathom the abyss of his self-contempt.
  • Extract from : « The Black Bag » by Louis Joseph Vance
  • Yet Wrayson was uneasily conscious of something underneath it all which he could not fathom.
  • Extract from : « The Avenger » by E. Phillips Oppenheim
  • Is there a single spot which the eye, by any peering or prying, can fathom or exhaust?
  • Extract from : « Modern Painters Volume I (of V) » by John Ruskin
  • The friend did not seek further to fathom the mystery attending this birth of the artist.
  • Extract from : « Therese Raquin » by Emile Zola
  • There was something strange doing, and he wished to fathom the mystery.
  • Extract from : « The Night Riders » by Ridgwell Cullum

Synonyms for fathom

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019