What's the difference between fathom and unfathomable?

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.

Unfathomable


Definition:

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The potential benefits [of AI research] are huge, since everything that civilisation has to offer is a product of human intelligence; we cannot predict what we might achieve when this intelligence is magnified by the tools AI may provide, but the eradication of disease and poverty are not unfathomable,” the letter reads.
  • (2) Told of Pistorius's denial, Levitt replied: "Not only is she standing by what he said, but she finds it unfathomable that he denies it in front of a number of witnesses.
  • (3) A man with a machine gun chatting to a protester about midgies might seem delightfully British, but it also emphasises the surrealness of Trident and how we resort to small talk because its destructive potential is so unfathomably big.
  • (4) Given that Solskjaer, who is in charge of Molde, has spoken in the past about Sir Alex Ferguson advising him to choose an owner rather than a club when it comes to management, it seems difficult to believe that the former Manchester United striker would warm to the idea of working under Tan, whose reputation for interfering and making unfathomable decisions now precedes him in the world of football.
  • (5) Unfathomable, futuristic madness: that's what made me want to visit Japan.
  • (6) I had no idea what I was looking at: the one thing I did know was that this unfathomable futuristic madness was precisely the sort of thing I'd come to Japan to see.
  • (7) For reasons which are unfathomable Daniel became a target for derision, abuse and systematic cruelty."
  • (8) Cutting that $9bn spent on private schools – or transferring that money to public schools – would end the wasteful elite private school "arms race" where unfathomable amounts have been spent on gyms, pools and the like.
  • (9) Gordon Brown's new bag, made - unfathomably - by shipyard apprentices at a naval dockyard, is actually made from pine, like most good coffins.
  • (10) Leading environmental figures, including the broadcaster Sir David Attenborough and the mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington, have condemned government plans to drop debate about climate change from the national curriculum for children under 14 as "unfathomable and unacceptable".
  • (11) It is unfathomable - and it really all goes back to Ryan's decision to throw the ball deep instead of running the ball and killing clock.
  • (12) The frontrunner is a self-styled “independent”: Zac Goldsmith, the unfathomably wealthy, roll-up-smoking Tory environmentalist who was until recently Richmond Park’s Conservative MP and the party’s candidate for London mayor.
  • (13) Rich countries are (based on low debt vs GDP) ... Russia, China, one or two North African countries, Indonesia, some South American countries, a couple of Southern African countries, Australia and a few Middle Eastern countries, Developed countries are (based solely on GDP ignoring unfathomable debt for some of them) ... North America, Northern Europe, Japan, Australia and a few Middle Eastern countries.
  • (14) Clashes here with US forces were such a centrepiece of the Iraq war that the prospect of the US air force now giving cover to the group in coming weeks seemed unfathomable for many of those on the sidelines of Saturday's parade.
  • (15) Early single Manners, with its unfathomably wonderful chorus full of down-pitched tambourines, was the sort of song you sense would never go anywhere.
  • (16) During millennia, the mechanisms of procreation have constituted for man an unfathomable and irritating riddle.
  • (17) Three hours of sexual and pharmacological excess, wanton debauchery, unfathomable avarice, gleeful misogyny, extreme narcotic brinksmanship, malfeasance and lawless behaviour is a lot to take, and some have complained of the film's relentlessness, which, if understood in formal terms, I think may be one of its main aims.
  • (18) He finds the lack of media interest in his wife’s jazz album unfathomable, and interprets his six million votes in 2004 as proof that today’s public “want me to make music”.
  • (19) he marvels plaintively, pretending to find such interest in him unfathomable. "
  • (20) Of course, as professionals we need this signing and we expect to have that shortly.” Cellino’s Elland Road reign, which has seen him employ six managers, has been littered with unfathomable U-turns and outspoken outbursts, lending weight to the theory the 59-year-old could decide to sell the club to someone other than the fans.