MEANING
1. To understand something difficult or obscure.
2. To determine or measure the depth of something, especially water.
3. A unit of length equal to six feet, used especially for water depth.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- fathom a motive
- fathom a mystery
On the page
She could not fathom the motive behind the careful omission.
He finally fathomed why the earliest letter had been preserved.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- fathom
- Past tense
- fathomed
- Past participle
- fathomed
- Present participle
- fathoming
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- fathom
- Present continuous
- am/is/are fathoming
- Present perfect
- have/has fathomed
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been fathoming
- Past
- fathomed
- Past continuous
- was/were fathoming
- Past perfect
- had fathomed
- Past perfect continuous
- had been fathoming
- Future
- will fathom
- Future continuous
- will be fathoming
- Future perfect
- will have fathomed
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been fathoming
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: fathom; fathoms; fathomed; fathomed; fathoming Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: fathoms.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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