fathom

But how do we fathom a sorceress who can make time run backward?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026

"People are simply dumbfounded and finding it very hard to fathom the scale of this tragedy," Australia's Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who represents King Charles, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026

During the conversation he makes an immense effort to convince Tangen of the size, scope and speed of the AI revolution which he thinks is beyond the capacity of most people to fathom.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2026

"My outlook and my view of the world were not forged in Davos or Washington, but in places whose desolation I'm not sure you can even begin to fathom," he has said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026

Bull never understood how Virgil accomplished the same results; he could not fathom the mystery that Virgil speaking quietly but firmly could inspire a quality of fear that men who yelled could never approach.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

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

And after some initial tests in the shallow water, the Thresher headed out to where the ocean was 1,400 fathoms, or a mile and half, deep.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 26, 2019

Rounding the corner they saw before them a low cliff, some five fathoms high, with a broken and jagged top.

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien

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

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

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

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

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

At a prayer vigil with parents days later, Obama, a father of two daughters, spoke of how futile words were at fathoming grief and loss.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 2017

For all their attempts at fathoming the secrets of nature are based on the idea that male or female powers are inherent in all matter.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton" by Various