unfathomable
Part of speech: adj
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: From un- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + fathom (“to measure the depth of (water); (figurative) to deeply understand (someone or something)”) + -able (suffix forming adjectives denoting things not able or fit to be done).
Base: fathom
Affixes: un-
-able
Inflected forms:
form: more unfathomable
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most unfathomable
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: Impossible to fathom.
pos: adj
examples: [W]e are not to make our eſtimate of the quantity of VVaters meerly by the Superficies of the Sea, but by its vaſt depth, vvhich in ſome places is unfathomable, and by thoſe vaſt ſubterraneous Receptacles of VVater vvhich pour themſelves out in ſeveral great Ebullitions and Marine Springs: […]
But if we yet rise higher, and consider the fixed stars as so many vast oceans of flame, that are each of them attended with a different set of planets, and still discover new firmaments and new lights, that are sunk farther in those unfathomable depths of ether, so as not to be seen by the strongest of our telescopes, we are lost in such a labyrinth of suns and worlds, and confounded with the immensity and magnificence of nature.
Now, where the fiercest war among the waves / Is calm, on the unfathomable stream / The boat moved slowly.
[Y]e may well look up surprised / To those unfathomable heavens that feed / Your purple hills!
Not till her nineteenth year had she seen the long, dazzling boulevards stretching into unfathomable distance before her eyes; […]
gloss: Impossible to fathom.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: The sheer number of warriors the enemy attacked with was unfathomable.
There are indeed unfadomable depths in that Ocean [i.e., the holy scriptures], vvherin vve ſhall vainly hope to pitch our anchor; but all neceſſary truthes need not much line: […]
Their music is employed in celebrating their own criminal exploits, and their discourse in sounding the unfathomable depths of fate, freewill, and foreknowledge.
Juſt the Blovv, and juſter ſtill, / Becauſe imbitter'd to me by that Hand / I moſt deteſt; vvhich gives my Soul an Earneſt / Of vaſt unfathomable VVoes to come, / That dreadful Dovv'ry for my dreadful Love.
[W]hat VVords ſuffice / Thy countleſs Attributes to ſhovv: / Unfathomable Depths Thou [God] art!
And the sweet peace of joy did almost fill / The depth of her unfathomable look;— […]
With respect to Duels, indeed, I have my own ideas. […] Two little visual Spectra of men, hovering with insecure enough cohesion in the midst of the Unfathomable, and to dissolve therein, at any rate, very soon,— […]
Her eyes, when she lifted them up to gaze on you, and ere she dropped their purple deep-fringed lids, shone with tenderness and mystery unfathomable.
In truth the depths of this man's [John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland's] knavery were unfathomable.
Her bushy eyebrows were groves of mystery, her unfathomable eyes were wells of gloom.
Our caresses, our tender words, […] all bring with them the consciousness that they are mere waves and ripples in an unfathomable ocean of love and beauty: […]
Her lustrous, unfathomable, star-like eyes looked up into his wild and sombre ones; they did not know one another, but each trusted the other after that one long look.
Lady Cantor spoke to her of Dudley's unfathomable gloom.
Suggestions that those leaders are irrational and their decisions unfathomable are remarkably shallow. North Korea is not a theocracy led by zealots who preach the rewards of the afterlife.
Related words: fathom
fathomable
fathomless
unfathomed
inconceivable
unimaginable
Derived words: unfathomability
unfathomableness
unfathomably
Translations: