Understand vs Fathom - What's the difference?
understand | fathom |
(lb) To be aware of the meaning of.
:
:
*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
*:I understand not what you mean by this.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=
, volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= To believe, based on information.
:
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
, title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=Foreword To impute meaning, character etc. that is not explicitly stated.
:
:In this sense, the word is usually used in the past participle:
::
*(John Locke) (1632-1705)
*:The most learned interpreters understood the words of sin, and not of Abel.
*
*:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
To stand under; to support.
:(Shakespeare)
(obsolete) Grasp, envelopment, control.
(nautical) A measure of length corresponding to the outstretched arms, standardised to six feet, now used mainly for measuring depths in seas or oceans.
(by extension) Mental reach or scope; penetration; the extent of capacity; depth of thought or contrivance.
* Shakespeare
(archaic) To encircle with outstretched arms, especially to take a measurement; to embrace.
To measure the depth of, take a sounding of.
(figuratively) To get to the bottom of; to manage to comprehend (a problem etc.).
In transitive terms the difference between understand and fathom
is that understand is to be aware of the meaning of while fathom is to measure the depth of, take a sounding of.As a noun fathom is
grasp, envelopment, control.understand
English
Alternative forms
* understaund (obsolete)Verb
Sam Leith
Where the profound meets the profane, passage=Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths.}}
citation, passage=‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War.
Usage notes
* Common objects of this verb include text'', ''word(s)'', ''sentence(s)'', ''note(s) , etc. * Rarely, the obsolete past tense form understanded'' may be found, e.g. in the ''Book of Common Prayer'' and ''Thirty-nine Articles of the Anglican Church .Synonyms
* (to know the meaning) apprehend, comprehend, grasp, know, perceive, pick up what someone is putting down, realise, grok * (to believe) believeAntonyms
* misunderstandDerived terms
* I don’t understand * understandable * understanding * understoodSee also
* explain * whyExternal links
* *fathom
English
Noun
(en noun)- Another of his fathom they have none / To lead their business (Othello, I.i. 151-2).
Synonyms
*(measure of length corresponding to the outstretched arms) braceVerb
(en verb)- I can't for the life of me fathom what this means.