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:
It’s hard to distil elections in a country as large as India to just a few faces - political choices can vary widely from region to region.
From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2024
England's challenge is to distil their approach into something that can be consistently successful, especially overseas, while at the same time remaining committed to entertaining the crowds.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2022
"It is difficult to distil the geopolitical tensions from the macroeconomic backdrop," Dushanova said.
From Reuters ● Nov. 19, 2021
Cobb also eloquently shows how figurative language does much more than simply distil or give shape to complex, intangible subjects.
From Nature ● Mar. 29, 2020
In a moist environment pellucid drops or "tears" distil from its lower surface: Hence its name.
From Wood and Forest by William Noyes
On the new release, Mr. Iyer’s “Fire City,” which he first recorded with that group, gets distilled into fresh potency through the urgent and sometimes pleading tones of Mr. Threadgill’s saxophone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
He distilled the disagreement into the dissent’s sharpest line.
From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2026
Cowin’s own restraint and withholding yield images of distilled power.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
I’ve distilled their wisdom into three nonnegotiable rules that I now live by.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
—Thyon Nero: the alchemist who had distilled azoth.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
The San Francisco-based AI lab also accused Chinese developers of deceptively using Claude to produce responses to user queries while simultaneously "distilling" that data to improve their own models.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
After pausing distilling operations in Clermont, the company moved most of its production to its Booker Noe facility just down the street, named for Noe’s grandfather.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 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
Well, two prominent conservative judges now disagree on whether Congress’s constitutional powers justify an 1868 ban on home distilling.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 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.
