fathom
noun
a unit of length equal to six feet (1.8 meters): used chiefly in nautical measurements. fath
fathomed
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past participleof fathom.past participle
A verb form used in perfect and passive verb constructions and that can also function as a modifier.
-
past tense formof fathom.past tense
Used to describe completed actions or previous habitual actions.
fathomnouna unit of length equal to six feet (1.8 meters): used chiefly in nautical measurements. fath
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ken Ono’s career as one of the world’s most prominent mathematicians has taken him to Hollywood and the Olympics, places that he never could have fathomed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 7, 2025
"We never fathomed it would be this catastrophic and apocalyptic."
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2025
Gmail’s existence is also why other free email services and the internal email accounts that employees use on their jobs offer far more storage than was fathomed 20 years ago.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 31, 2024
Their Latin Grammys nod is a milestone that bass guitarist Sandra Calixto had long dreamed of, but one she never fathomed would happen so fast.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2023
The thing she’d wanted, the thing she dreamed of, belonged to her and was better than anything she could have fathomed.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
