fathom

1. 1.

   come to understand

   Synonymspenetratebottom

   Broaderunderstand
2. 2.

   measure the depth of (a body of water) with a sounding line

   Synonymssound

   Broaderquantify

Other forms of fathom

plural

fathoms·

past tense

fathommed·

present participle

fathomming·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about fathom

What does fathom mean?

fathom means "a linear unit of measurement (equal to 6 feet) for water depth". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in fathom?

fathom has 2 syllables: fat-hom. The stress falls on "fat". In IPA it is /ˈfæðəm/.

What is another word for fathom?

Close synonyms include fthm, fthm, penetrate, bottom, sound. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is fathom a common word?

fathom is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.