distil
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
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to subject to or undergo distillation See also rectify
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to purify, separate, or concentrate, or be purified, separated, or concentrated by distillation
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to obtain or be obtained by distillation
to distil whisky
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to exude or give off (a substance) in drops or small quantities
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(tr) to extract the essence of as if by distillation
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of distil
C14: from Latin dēstillāre to distil, from de- + stillāre to drip
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In a Nasa video, each of the astronauts distil the mission into a single phrase.
From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2026
Cleverly said any attempt to distil the relationship down to a single word or a sound bite was fundamentally flawed.
From Reuters ● Aug. 30, 2023
Just two races into the season, it already feels as if this year could distil, like last one, into a two-horse race, with Leclerc replacing Hamilton as Verstappen's main rival.
From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2022
Events such as these distil something about the times in which we live, when speed of reaction often takes precedence over slower and more cautious assessments.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 8, 2018
"There is some soul of goodness in things evil, Would man observingly distil it out."
From Hot corn: Life Scenes in New York Illustrated by Robinson, Solon
A stage adaptation can’t duplicate the way Lumet visually distilled the rough-and-tumble New York zeitgeist of the tumultuous early 1970s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026
Mezcal is a distilled drink made from agave, the same plant group used to produce tequila.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 26, 2026
On the night of the encounter, he distilled his confusion and anger into a song, recording it the following morning in the small studio above his garage.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026
As he had done at Renault, de Meo distilled his hypotheses into a short memo, circulated to senior managers on his first day.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
The early technical fussing was crucial; by early August, the three had achieved the transformation reaction in a flask and distilled the “transforming principle” into a highly concentrated form.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Microsoft is weighing whether to host a version of DeepSeek, an ultralow-cost AI provider based in China that OpenAI and Anthropic have called out for distilling, or copying, their top models.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
With the help of large handheld food mixers, they carefully grind the mixture of dried Californian grapes and water, which they then ferment before distilling it in a large still imported from Germany.
From Barron's ● May 2, 2026
Producers roast the rounded hearts of agave plants in fire pits or kilns, then crush and ferment the cooked material before distilling it in smaller batches.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 26, 2026
“The Comeback” is a handy distilling mechanism for an industry that can’t help drowning itself in excess.
From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2026
He was distilling azoth, as he had done hundreds of times before.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
