If you describe something as unfathomable, you mean that it cannot be understood or explained, usually because it is very strange or complicated.
For some unfathomable reason, there are no stairs where there should be.
How odd life was, how unfathomable, how profoundly unjust.
2. adjective
If you use unfathomable to describe a person or the expression on their face, you mean that you cannot tell what they are thinking or what they intend to do.
[literary]
...a strange, unfathomable and unpredictable individual.
...the dark eyes that right now seemed opaque and unfathomable.
More Synonyms of unfathomable
unfathomable in British English
(ʌnˈfæðəməbəl)
adjective
1.
incapable of being fathomed; immeasurable
2.
incapable of being understood
Derived forms
unfathomableness (unˈfathomableness)
noun
unfathomably (unˈfathomably)
adverb
Examples of 'unfathomable' in a sentence
unfathomable
Yet this should not be presented as some unfathomable mystery.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The riddle of life itself cannot come close to the unfathomable mystery of that question.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
For some unfathomable reason others do not seem to grasp this elementary etiquette.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
But for some unfathomable reason these are seen as negative qualities.
The Sun (2006)
We are moving into depths that are unfathomable.
Christianity Today (2000)
It was almost unfathomable to me how she could get through it all as a pregnant woman.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
All this would be almost unfathomable to the generation before us.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
To many parents, teenage daughters are an unfathomable mystery.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
It would not further confuse a public who already find the machinations of Westminster almost unfathomable.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
I wanted the whole unfathomable mystery of it all.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
The images speak of a steadily deepening familiarity - and one that only opens the eyes wider to an unfathomable mystery.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Not simply being asked to share a family supper, but a whole new social nightmare of almost unfathomable hospitable anxiety.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Only the reasons are unfathomable.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
For some unfathomable reason most of the bags are sealed on all four sides, which means that they have to carefully prised open.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
It seems almost unfathomable that anyone could waste so much money and still have a team that can only bump along in the Championship.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Indeed, the two seemed bound by a strange, unfathomable complicity.
The Times Literary Supplement (2010)
For unfathomable reasons, certain artists pull our iron filings in certain directions at certain times, and others do not.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
1 (adjective)
Definition
too strange or complicated to be understood
How unfathomable and odd is life!
Synonyms
baffling
I was constantly ill, with a baffling array of symptoms.
incomprehensible
incomprehensible mathematics puzzles
inexplicable
Your behaviour was extraordinary and inexplicable.
deep
The workers had dug a deep hole in the centre of the garden.
profound
a book full of profound and challenging insights
esoteric
impenetrable
His philosophical work is notoriously impenetrable.
unknowable
abstruse
Meetings keep reverting to discussions about abstruse resolutions.
indecipherable
2 (adjective)
Her eyes were black, unfathomable pools.
Synonyms
immeasurable
I felt an immeasurable love for him.
bottomless
His eyes were like bottomless brown pools.
unmeasured
unplumbed
unsounded
Additional synonyms
in the sense of abstruse
Definition
not easy to understand
Meetings keep reverting to discussions about abstruse resolutions.
Synonyms
obscure,
complex,
confusing,
puzzling,
subtle,
mysterious,
concealed,
abstract,
vague,
deep,
dark,
hidden,
unclear,
ambiguous,
enigmatic,
esoteric,
perplexing,
occult,
opaque,
incomprehensible,
arcane,
hazy,
cryptic,
unfathomable,
recondite,
Delphic,
clear as mud (informal)
in the sense of bottomless
Definition
very deep
His eyes were like bottomless brown pools.
Synonyms
deep,
profound,
yawning,
boundless,
unfathomable,
immeasurable,
fathomless,
abyssal
in the sense of deep
Definition
extending or situated far down from a surface
The workers had dug a deep hole in the centre of the garden.
Synonyms
big,
wide,
broad,
profound,
yawning,
cavernous,
bottomless,
unfathomable,
fathomless,
abyssal,
DEp
Nearby words of
unfathomable
unfamiliar
unfashionable
unfasten
unfathomable
unfavourable
unfeeling
unfeigned
Synonyms of 'unfathomable'
unfathomable
Explore 'unfathomable' in the dictionary
Additional synonyms
in the sense of impenetrable
Definition
impossible to understand
His philosophical work is notoriously impenetrable.
Synonyms
incomprehensible,
obscure,
baffling,
dark,
hidden,
mysterious,
enigmatic,
arcane,
inexplicable,
unintelligible,
inscrutable,
unfathomable,
indiscernible,
cabbalistic,
enigmatical
in the sense of incomprehensible
incomprehensible mathematics puzzles
Synonyms
obscure,
puzzling,
mysterious,
baffling,
enigmatic,
perplexing,
opaque,
impenetrable,
inscrutable,
unfathomable,
above your head,
beyond comprehension,
all Greek to you (informal),
beyond your grasp
in the sense of inexplicable
Definition
impossible to explain
Your behaviour was extraordinary and inexplicable.