unfathomable

English

Etymology

un- +‎ fathom +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈfæðəməbəl/, /ʌnˈfæðməbəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Adjective

unfathomable (comparative more unfathomable, superlative most unfathomable)

1. Impossible to fathom or understand.

   Synonyms: fathomless, incomprehensible, unintelligible; see also Thesaurus:incomprehensible

   Antonyms: explicable, intelligible; see also Thesaurus:comprehensible

   The sheer numbers they attacked with were unfathomable.

   • 2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     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.

2. Difficult to penetrate.

   Synonyms: impenetrable, impregnable

   Antonyms: penetrable, pregnable

Derived terms

• unfathomability
• unfathomableness

Translations

impossible to fathom; incomprehensible

• Bulgarian: необхватен (bg) (neobhvaten), неразбираем (bg) (nerazbiraem)
• Catalan: incomprensible
• Dutch: onbegrijpelijk (nl), ondoorgrondelijk (nl)
• Finnish: käsittämätön (fi)
• French: incompréhensible (fr)
• German: unfassbar (de), unermesslich (de)
• Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐌿𐍃𐍃𐍀𐌹𐌻𐌻𐍉𐌸𐍃 (unusspillōþs)
• Italian: insondabile, imperscrutabile (it), incomprensibile (it)
• Japanese: 理解できないほど (りかいできないほど, rikai dekinai hodo)
• Latin: indēspectus
• Occitan: insasisable, incomprensible (oc)
• Polish: niezgłębiony
• Portuguese: incompreensível (pt)
• Romanian: de neînțeles
• Russian: непостижи́мый (ru) (nepostižímyj)
• Spanish: incomprensible (es)
• Swedish: obegriplig (sv), ofattbar (sv), outgrundlig (sv)

difficult to penetrate

• Czech: neproniknutelný
• Dutch: onpeilbaar (nl), ondoordringbaar (nl)
• Finnish: läpitunkematon
• French: insondable (fr)
• Spanish: insondable (es)

See also

• fathomless
• unfathomed
• unimaginable
• inconceivable