fathom

noun fath·om \ ˈfa-t͟həm \

Updated on: 5 Dec 2017

Definition of fathom

1 : a unit of length equal to six feet (1.83 meters) used especially for measuring the depth of water —sometimes used in the singular when qualified by a number

five fathom deep

2 : comprehension

the themes display a newer fathom than the technical modernism of the composer's earlier works
—Newsweek

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fathom was our Word of the Day on 05/05/2013. Hear the podcast!

Examples of fathom in a Sentence

The water here is five fathoms deep.

Recent Examples of fathom from the Web

Dropping 10 fathoms down, below the green waves of the Gulf and back in time to this prehistoric world amounts to a sort of time traveler’s journey.

— AL.com, "Alabama's 60,000-year-old underwater forest spills its secrets in new documentary," 25 June 2017
Time traveling below the waves Dropping 10 fathoms down, below the green waves of the Gulf and back in time to this prehistoric world amounts to a sort of time traveler's journey.

— ben raines, NOLA.com, "Gulf's 60,000-year-old underwater forest spills its secrets in new documentary," 25 June 2017
He had never spoken with such fathoms of unrestraint.

— benjamin hedin, The New Yorker, "Martin Luther King, Jr.,’s Searing Antiwar Speech, Fifty Years Later," 3 Apr. 2017
However, the modern dive watch dates back to the mid-1950s, when Blancpain's 50 Fathoms and Rolex's Submariner both appeared.

— steve dool, CNN, "Understated but 'never easy': Why collectors covet Patek Philippe," 18 July 2017
Time traveling below the waves Dropping 10 fathoms down, below the green waves of the Gulf and back in time to this prehistoric world amounts to a sort of time traveler's journey.

— ben raines, NOLA.com, "Gulf's 60,000-year-old underwater forest spills its secrets in new documentary," 25 June 2017
Captain Cook filled his logs with notes on the tide, on the time the ebb began each day, the force of the current, the fathoms of water, or lack of water, beneath his ship.

— erin mckittrick, Alaska Dispatch News, "Meandering the mudflats: 800 miles around Cook Inlet," 15 Sep. 2017
Twain's pen name originates from his time working with steamboats: Twain refers to a measure of length known as two fathoms (12 feet).

— logan sykes, Town & Country, "Happy 180th Birthday, Mark Twain! 16 Facts You Need to Know About The Author," 30 Nov. 2015
More than 200 years later, our low tide was at the same time Cook's high had been, and 4 fathoms — 24 feet — was an understatement.

— erin mckittrick, Alaska Dispatch News, "Meandering the mudflats: 800 miles around Cook Inlet," 15 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fathom.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of fathom

Middle English fadme, from Old English fæthm outstretched arms, length of the outstretched arms; akin to Old Norse fathmr fathom, Latin patēre to be open, pandere to spread out, Greek petannynai

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

See Words from the same year

Other Nautical Terms

avast, aweigh, flotsam, jib, keel, lee, port, starboard, stay

fathom

verb

Definition of fathom

intransitive verb

1 : probe

2 : to take soundings

transitive verb

1 : to measure by a sounding line

2 : to penetrate and come to understand

couldn't fathom the problem

—

fathomable

play \ˈfa-t͟hə-mə-bəl\ adjective

See fathom defined for English-language learners

Examples of fathom in a Sentence

the pilot had to continually fathom the river, which drought conditions had lowered to unprecedented levels

Recent Examples of fathom from the Web

If all the governor's men and a few women did not tell Snyder about the water, that kind of coincidence is hard to fathom.

— Detroit Free Press, "Still no justice, peace in Flint water crisis after report of spike in fetal deaths," 21 Sep. 2017
This year album-of-the-year winner Adele couldn’t fathom the Recording Academy selecting her traditionalist album 25 over Beyoncé’s groundbreaking Lemonade.

— rebecca keegan, HWD, "A Grammy Remedy for Beyoncé?," 14 June 2017
Petrillo’s specific quarry was gravitational lenses: rare patterns in the night sky that let astronomers fathom the depths of many of modern physics’ most pressing mysteries.

— joshua sokol, The Atlantic, "Using AI to Find a Cosmic Looking Glass," 25 Oct. 2017
He was also afforded perks few servants could fathom.

— kristin hunt, Smithsonian, "Victoria and Abdul: The Friendship that Scandalized England," 20 Sep. 2017
Shortly afterward, Rajan, by now the media editor at the BBC, announced in a series of eleven breathless tweets an exclusive whose provenance was not hard to fathom.

— ed caesar, Esquire, "George Osborne's Revenge," 15 Sep. 2017
Joseph Lynch, 69, can't fathom having to leave his home in south Brooklyn's Gerritsen Beach, which was almost entirely inundated by tidal surge waters during Sandy.

— james crugnale, NBC News, "5 Years After Sandy: Are NYC’s Preparations Amid Climate Change Enough?," 25 Oct. 2017
It’s hard to fathom Texas Tech will have any votes in the new poll.

— star-telegram, "Kempt throws 3 TDs, Iowa State dumps Texas Tech 31-13," 21 Oct. 2017
Some, who have known and worked with him for years, are still trying to fathom the severity of the accusations.

— Alaska Dispatch News, "Violence, threats, begging: Harvey Weinstein’s 30-year pattern of abuse in Hollywood," 15 Oct. 2017

Did fathom Always Refer to a Measurement?

Fathom comes to us from Old English fæthm, meaning "outstretched arms." The noun fathom, which now commonly refers to a measure (especially of depth) of six feet, was originally used for the distance, fingertip to fingertip, created by stretching one's arms straight out from the sides of the body. In one of its earliest uses, the verb fathom meant to encircle something with the arms as if for measuring and was also a synonym for "embrace." In the 1600s, however, fathom took on the meaning of using a sounding line to measure depth. At the same time, the verb also developed senses synonymous with "probe" or "investigate," and is now frequently used to refer to the act of getting to the bottom of something (figuratively speaking).