fathoming
Grasping the depths
Fathoming is the process of understanding something deeply or measuring depth.
From the nautical practice of measuring water depth in fathoms, the word now primarily describes attempts to comprehend difficult or mysterious things: I can't fathom why she left, fathoming the depths of his grief.
What resists fathoming remains unfathomable.
Immeasurably profound depth
- oceanMassive saltwater body
- trenchLong narrow excavation
- seafloorOcean's solid base
- submarineUnderwater naval craft
diving · sonar · bathymetry · sounding · plumb · benthic · pelagic · nautical
Mental understanding of meaning
- graspingGreedy for wealth
- insightDeep perceptive understanding
- discernmentKeen perception and judgment
- perceptionMental interpretation of stimuli
cognition · apprehension · realization · conceptualization · penetrating · deciphering · unraveling · interpreting
Scrutiny of one's thoughts
- soul-searchingProbing one's innermost feelings
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
- reflectionReturned light or thought
- self-analysisScrutinizing one's own psyche
self-scrutiny · meditation · probing · self-understanding · self-awareness · mindfulness · self-questioning · psychology
abyss
Immeasurably profound depth
submarine · diving · sonar · bathymetry · sounding · plumb · benthic · pelagic · nautical · hydrology
comprehension
Mental understanding of meaning
- graspingGreedy for wealth
- insightDeep perceptive understanding
- discernmentKeen perception and judgment
perception · cognition · apprehension · realization · conceptualization · penetrating · deciphering · unraveling · interpreting · probing
self-examination
Scrutiny of one's thoughts
- soul-searchingProbing one's innermost feelings
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
- reflectionReturned light or thought
self-analysis · self-scrutiny · meditation · probing · self-understanding · self-awareness · mindfulness · self-questioning · psychology · psyche
- thinkingthinking, reasoning, thought, ponder, contemplate
- understandingunderstand, comprehend, grasp, follow, know
- graspinggrasping, apprehending, comprehending, understanding, catching
- mental statesknowledge, conscious, mood, anxious, memory
- code-breaking verbsdecrypting, deciphering, cracking, unscrambling, solving
fathomingmisunderstanding
Failure to grasp meaning
missing · misapprehending · confusing · misperceiving · bafflement
fathomingskimming
Passing lightly over
glossing over · overlooking · ignoring · dismissing · disregarding
fathom, unfathomable, fathomed, fathoms, unfathomably, fathomable, unfathomed, fathomlessness, unfathomability