fathom

The experience suggests that to achieve enlightenment, one must embrace these limitations, come to peace with contradictions, and maintain faith in a larger order that we cannot fathom.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

But during a week when the canted economy just created its first trillionaire, I can’t fathom why Sarnoski felt we needed this version of Robin Hood now.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026

Protagonist Louden Swain, a high-school senior, can’t fathom why Elmo, an older and impecunious cook at the hotel where they’re both employed, is missing work to watch him wrestle.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026

But even they came around faster than the burgeoning class of prestige TV era viewers who couldn’t fathom that the new “Battlestar” could be as culturally resonant as, say, “The Sopranos” or “The Wire.”

From Salon ● May 5, 2026

“Do you think that I am insane? Do you suppose that some stupid psychiatrist could even attempt to fathom the workings of my psyche?”

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

DaCosta fathoms the deepest notes in Ibsen’s classic as though they were whale song, remixing them into her own ode to a woman who needs healthier hobbies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026

In the late 1800s the Yup’ik people from the Alaskan coast recorded building kayaks that were 2.5 fathoms long plus a cockpit, which was the length of an arm with a closed fist.

From Science Magazine ● May 31, 2023

“He’s playing it off. I don’t think he fathoms how bad this is. Shame on him. I hope he gets what he deserves.”

From Washington Times ● Jul. 6, 2021

You know those deep-sea fish dragged by nets from fathoms of blackness, how obvious it is that they aren’t supposed to exist where we are?

From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2020

Others let them drift with the current and sometimes they were at sixty fathoms when the fishermen thought they were at a hundred.

From "The Old Man and The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway

Ken Ono’s career as one of the world’s most prominent mathematicians has taken him to places that he never could have fathomed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025

"We never fathomed it would be this catastrophic and apocalyptic."

From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2025

Brandishing a competitive nature and an extreme love of live entertainment, TV and movies since childhood, she never could have fathomed that a blend of all of those attributes could equate to a job.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2024

“They came out and executed. Kicked our butts. I would’ve never fathomed that this would’ve been the conclusion of the score if you would’ve asked me a week or two weeks ago. There’s no way.”

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 18, 2023

But just as he fathomed the bag’s knot-shaped clasp, the apartment door swung suddenly, wondrously, wide.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen

While James is a good-looking, good-natured young man, he's rather lost when it comes to fathoming the way Pünd can unravel mysteries.

From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2022

But fathoming other universes is the essence of Theo’s job.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 21, 2021

Now, though some of the references have become more obscure with time, it’s hard to imagine anyone not fathoming the play’s gist.

From New York Times ● May 7, 2021

They are like the proverbial worker who knows how to use a hammer and thus sees everything as a nail—not fathoming the existence of other tools.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 8, 2020

She certainly did interest herself very much with lovers, fathoming all the little mysteries of their love-quarrels, and setting every thing quite straight, even when they seemed in inextricable confusion.

From Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 4 October 1848 by Various