What's the difference between fathom and understand?

Fathom


Definition:

  • (n.) A measure of length, containing six feet; the space to which a man can extend his arms; -- used chiefly in measuring cables, cordage, and the depth of navigable water by soundings.
  • (n.) The measure or extant of one's capacity; depth, as of intellect; profundity; reach; penetration.
  • (v. t.) To encompass with the arms extended or encircling; to measure by throwing the arms about; to span.
  • (v. t.) The measure by a sounding line; especially, to sound the depth of; to penetrate, measure, and comprehend; to get to the bottom of.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But Erik Britton, of City consultancy Fathom, said: "The LTRO [long term refinancing operation] and all those things, all it's done is bought a bit of time, but it hasn't addressed the structural problems, even slightly, even for Greece."
  • (2) Another wonderful thing to do is to take a ferry from Tobermory to Fathom Five national marine park and swim to one of the many underwater wrecks.
  • (3) Fathoming of the vestibule below the central and inferior thirds of the footplate surface has shown that there is no likely danger to the vestibular end organs or cochlear duct if manipulations are carried out no deeper than 1 mm below the surface.
  • (4) Her dystopian imagination fathoms the darker parts of the US.
  • (5) Danny Gabay, director of City consultancy Fathom, says what Europe faces is fundamentally a banking crisis.
  • (6) Erik Britton, of the City consultancy Fathom, says one possibility is that borrowing costs everywhere will rise.
  • (7) Sometimes, even when it is not possible to fathom the direct cause of an event, the context in which it took place offers many clues.
  • (8) Speaking before signing a book of condolence on a lectern in the middle of Seville Place directly facing the church, the ex-prime minister said he could not fathom why the paper's columnist had launched what thousands have condemned as a homophobic attack on the singer's memory.
  • (9) Andrew Brigden, of City consultancy Fathom, said there was a one in three chance of a "double-dip" downturn in the world economy, and warned that with demand at home likely to be depressed as governments and overstretched households sorted out their finances, all the major economies would be pinning their hopes on exporting to foreign markets – but they could not all play that game at once.
  • (10) The relationship suffered, as did many of his other close relationships with family and friends who could not fathom what he had been through.
  • (11) It is impossible to fully fathom the depravity and horror inflicted on innocent people by Nazi terror.” Trump later pledged in the statement “to do everything in my power throughout my presidency, and my life, to ensure that the forces of evil never again defeat the powers of good”.
  • (12) Fathom argues instead for changes that would direct any fresh electronic cash at what it sees as the source of the UK's economic crisis: an overvalued UK housing market.
  • (13) Neither I, nor the CBS commentary team can fathom why the officials waited until Baltimore were just about to snap the ball on the next play, after a Cincinnati time-out, to call for the review.
  • (14) We want you gone.” “I still can’t fathom the thought that that’s me,” Rose told the Guardian.
  • (15) The deeply misjudged anti-nature narrative that has become embedded in political discourse is hard to fathom.
  • (16) Few journalists attempted to fathom the reason for his overwhelming victory in the Labour leadership contest in 2015 and few have sought systematically and impartially to explore the policies he has promoted as leader.
  • (17) Using similar measures the London-based consultancy Fathom estimates China is really growing at 3.1% a year, not 7%.
  • (18) Danny Gabay, of consultancy Fathom, accused the chancellor of encouraging households to take on even more debt, exposing them to the risk of a housing downturn.
  • (19) Cable is also addressing the widespread complaint that remuneration sections in annual reports are all but impossible for private investors to fathom.
  • (20) Right to the end Mobutu could not fathom how it was that tiny Rwanda had toppled his once monolithic regime.

Understand


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To have just and adequate ideas of; to apprehended the meaning or intention of; to have knowledge of; to comprehend; to know; as, to understand a problem in Euclid; to understand a proposition or a declaration; the court understands the advocate or his argument; to understand the sacred oracles; to understand a nod or a wink.
  • (v. t.) To be apprised, or have information, of; to learn; to be informed of; to hear; as, I understand that Congress has passed the bill.
  • (v. t.) To recognize or hold as being or signifying; to suppose to mean; to interpret; to explain.
  • (v. t.) To mean without expressing; to imply tacitly; to take for granted; to assume.
  • (v. t.) To stand under; to support.
  • (v. i.) To have the use of the intellectual faculties; to be an intelligent being.
  • (v. i.) To be informed; to have or receive knowledge.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The results indicated that neuropsychological measures may serve to broaden the concept of intelligence and that a brain-related criterion may contribute to a fuller understanding of its nature.
  • (2) Models able to describe the events of cellular growth and division and the dynamics of cell populations are useful for the understanding of functional control mechanisms and for the theoretical support for automated analysis of flow cytometric data and of cell volume distributions.
  • (3) It involves creativity, understanding of art form and the ability to improvise in the highly complex environment of a care setting.” David Cameron has boosted dementia awareness but more needs to be done Read more She warns: “To effect a cultural change in dementia care requires a change of thinking … this approach is complex and intricate, and can change cultural attitudes by regarding the arts as central to everyday life of the care home.” Another participant, Mary*, a former teacher who had been bedridden for a year, read plays with the reminiscence arts practitioner.
  • (4) The purpose of these studies was to better understand the molecular basis of chromosome aberration formation after mitomycin C treatment.
  • (5) Attempts are now being made to use this increased understanding to produce effective killed vaccines that produce immune responses in the lung.
  • (6) The evidence suggests that by the age of 15 years many adolescents show a reliable level of competence in metacognitive understanding of decision-making, creative problem-solving, correctness of choice, and commitment to a course of action.
  • (7) It is entirely proper for serving judges to set out the arguments in high-profile cases to help public understanding of the legal issues, as long as it is done in an even-handed way.
  • (8) Further study both of the signaling events that lead to MPF activation and of the substrates for phosphorylation by MPF should lead to a comprehensive understanding of the biochemistry of cell division.
  • (9) The only way we can change it, is if we get people to look in and understand what is happening.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dean, Clare and their baby son.
  • (10) Grisham said she and other aides had not been aware of the trip and “appreciate everyone’s understanding”.
  • (11) With better understanding of metabolic and compositional requirements, great advances have been made in the area of total parenteral nutrition.
  • (12) I did not - do not - quite understand how some are able to contemplate his anti-semitism with indifference.
  • (13) To get a better understanding of the different cell interactions during the immune response to a hapten-carrier complex, the effects of immunogenic or tolerogenic injections of various hapten-containing compounds on the responses induced by immunization with the same hapten coupled to protein carriers were studied.
  • (14) A clearer understanding of these relationships and their application to clinical management await further study.
  • (15) A good understanding of upper gastrointestinal physiology is required to properly understand the pathophysiological events in various diseases or after operations on the upper gastrointestinal tract.
  • (16) More needs to be known about the direct and indirect modulation of cytokine production by cyclosporin A in connective tissues, in order to understand its potential value in clinical disorders.
  • (17) This is not an argument for the status quo: teaching must be given greater priority within HE, but the flipside has to be an understanding on the part of students, ministers, officials, the public and the media that academics (just like politicians) cannot make everyone happy all of the time.
  • (18) For a better understanding of the cytochrome P-450 mediated reactions, we studied the metabolism of midazolam in microsomal fractions prepared from twelve human livers.
  • (19) Critical in this understanding are the subtle changes that occur in the individual patient, reflecting the natural history of the disease or response to its treatment.
  • (20) We are already witnessing a wholly understandable uprising of protest.