- a variation of distill.
distil
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
-
to subject to or undergo distillation See also rectify
-
to purify, separate, or concentrate, or be purified, separated, or concentrated by distillation
-
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
-
(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:
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
But even in these helter-skelter moments, there are still chances to stand back, to distil what's happened and provide the fact-checking, context, analysis and explanation to really understand an event.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2022
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’s like, hipster neoclassicism. I think an artist’s role is to weave the collective human experience into a narrative; to distil the most interesting aspects for posterity.”
From The Guardian ● Jul. 20, 2019
Paint her jetty ringlets straying, Silky twine in tendrils playing; And, if painting hath the skill To make the spicy balm distil, Let every little lock exhale A sigh of perfume on the gale.
From The Odes of Anacreon by Moore, Thomas
As sunlight is absorbed, the water evaporates and is distilled into fresh water.
From Science Daily ● May 31, 2026
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
“We hold that the ban is a necessary and proper means of collecting the federal excise tax on distilled spirits,” Judge Kethledge continues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 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
Then he swirled the Q-Tip in a test tube full of distilled water and capped the tube.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
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
There were also a few highly cryptic lines distilling the art and science of navigation.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
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.
