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# fathom

verb (fathom, fathoms, fathomed, fathoming); noun (fathom, fathoms; old use)

«fathom» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To fathom something is to understand it fully after thinking hard. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fathom/#m1)
2. A fathom is an old unit of length for measuring depth at sea, equal to six feet. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fathom/#m2)

### In the lessons

in stories, to work out a puzzle or mystery; at sea, a depth measured in fathoms (ten fathoms of chain)

### Examples

- I cannot fathom why the door was locked. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fathom/#x1)
- No one could fathom the old man's riddle. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fathom/#x2)
- He fathomed the trick at once. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fathom/#x3)
- The sailors let down a rope ten fathoms long. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fathom/#x4)
- Ten fathoms is about sixty feet. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fathom/#x5)

### Note

Each fathom is 6 feet, so multiply the number of fathoms by 6 to find feet; ten fathoms means 60 feet.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «fathom» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fathom/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«fathom» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/fathom.html) on Mova free.