Word Confusion: Fathom versus Phantom

Plural for the collective noun: fathom
Plural for the noun: fathoms
Gerund: fathoming

Third person present verb: fathoms
Past tense or past participle: fathomed
Present participle: fathoming

Plural for the noun: phantoms

To measure the depth of by means of a sounding line

• Sound

[Mining & quarrying] A unit of volume usually equal to six cubic feet, used in measuring ore bodies

[Forestry] A unit of volume equal to six cubic feet, used for measuring timber

Verb, transitive:
[Usually with negative] Understand a difficult problem or an enigmatic person after much thought

Measure the depth of water

To penetrate to the truth of a mystery, problem, etc.

• Comprehend
• Understand
• Discover the meaning of

• An appearance or illusion without material substance, as a dream image, mirage, or optical illusion

Fictitious

• Nonexistent

Noun:
A ghost

• A figment of the imagination
• Denoting a financial arrangement or transaction that has been invented for fraudulent purposes but that does not really exist

A person or thing of merely illusory power, status, efficacy, etc.

An illustration, part of which is given a transparent effect so as to permit representation of details otherwise hidden from view, as the inner workings of a mechanical device

[Medicine] A model, especially a transparent one, of the human body or of any of its parts

[Electricity] Noting or pertaining to a communication circuit derived from two other communication circuits or from one other circuit and ground, with no additional wire lines

We dropped sixty fathom of two-inch chain, Captain, and still haven’t hit bottom.

With great sadness they buried him in 2,700 fathoms of water, some 300 miles from Tahiti.

To their horror, the engine of the boat failed in 23 fathoms of water.

I saw real cities of the surface world, lying in ruins under a thousand fathoms of water.

This shark, common in deep waters, is occasionally found in depths as shallow as 20 fathoms.

The maximum reported depth reached by the species is 194 fathoms.

Verb, transitive:
He couldn’t fathom why she was being so anxious.

He could scarcely fathom the idea that people actually lived in Las Vegas.

The locals could not fathom out the reason behind his new-found treasures.

Back in the day, an attempt was made to fathom the ocean.

I can’t fathom why he’s doing this.

In the middle of this temple complex, there is an ancient pond, fed by the waters sprouting from its bed; it has been claimed that the depth of this pond has never been fathomed.

I couldn’t fathom what he was talking about.

Although she had to have her leg amputated, she still feels as though she’s got a phantom limb.

They discovered it was a phantom organization set up for the processing of drug profits.

A phantom coach is said to pass through the grounds of this house when there’s a full moon.

The phantom beer-drinker has been around!

The use of phantom circuits is the simplest way to obtain additional signal paths from existing physical circuits.

Noun:
There’s said to be a phantom who haunts lonely roads.

Lanser Hall was one of the oldest dorms and laboratories on campus and hadn’t been used due to the rumor of a phantom that haunted them.

The centrist and conservative parties were mere phantoms in 1943.

He tried to clear the phantoms from his head and grasp reality.

It was total voyeurism, and several people who were on the show had trouble afterwards adjusting to the fact that their fame was illusory — a deceiving phantom.

Some experts describe it as a phantom sensation, like pain in an amputated limb.

Treatments for phantom pain may involve medications or other therapies.

He diverted an estimated $1,500,000 into “phantom” bank accounts.

A common practice in retailing mined diamond jewelry is to use phantom prices and then show impressive discounts in an effort to lure buyers.

His presence aroused a phantom of fear in Matilda.

We had the weirdest phantom in anatomy class today.

The original sense was something which embraces, (the plural of which is the outstretched arms); hence, a unit of measurement based on the span of the outstretched arms, later standardized to six feet.