Phrasal verb
fathom out
Definition
phrasal verb. to finally understand something that is very difficult or mysterious after thinking about it for a long time.
phrasal verb. to discern or comprehend a complex problem or mysterious situation through careful thought; often used in the negative to express total confusion.
Examples
“I can't fathom out why he decided to quit his job.”
“It took the detectives several weeks to fathom out how the thief had entered the building without triggering the alarm.”
“Historians are still attempting to fathom out the exact sequence of events that led to the sudden collapse of the ancient civilization.”
Examples
simple
“I can't fathom out why he decided to quit his job.”
contextual
“It took the detectives several weeks to fathom out how the thief had entered the building without triggering the alarm.”
complex
“Historians are still attempting to fathom out the exact sequence of events that led to the sudden collapse of the ancient civilization.”
Usage
chiefly British English; the object can be a noun phrase or a 'wh-' clause.
Teaching tip
anchor this to the noun 'fathom' (a unit of water depth) to help students visualize 'getting to the bottom' of a deep or murky problem.
Pitfall
I couldn't fathom out it.
I couldn't fathom it out.
when using a pronoun like 'it', it must go between the verb and the particle because this phrasal verb is optional in its separability.
Phrasal verb
Particles
out
Separability
optional
Pattern
fathom + (object) + out
Synonyms
Antonyms
Grammar
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/fathom-out