- a variation of distill.
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:
The Odones approached Croda, which had large manufacturing plants in Hull, and the chemist Don Suddaby, who was persuaded to distil the formula.
From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2025
"Soon, you'll see AI-powered features in Search that distil complex information and multiple perspectives into easy-to-digest formats, so you can quickly understand the big picture and learn more from the web."
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2023
"It is difficult to distil the geopolitical tensions from the macroeconomic backdrop," Dushanova said.
From Reuters ● Nov. 19, 2021
The great power of poetry is its ability to distil thought, observation and emotion into a form that moves us profoundly.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 4, 2018
If not upon the undeserving,—if not upon the hapless wanderer from the paths of rectitude,—where shall the sun diffuse his light, or the clouds distil their dew?
From Such Things Are A Play, in Five Acts by Mrs. Inchbald
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
On Wednesday, White House science and technology advisor Michael Kratsios shared on X that the government had obtained information showing that Kimi K3 was distilled from Anthropic’s Fable.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
Kratsios said on X that the US government has information that Moonshot AI "distilled" capabilities from Anthropic's Fable AI for the development of its K3 model.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
It smelled of something rich and woody and slightly overpowering: like money, distilled.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Chinese developers have relied on a mix of ingenuity, state support, open-source sharing and distilling from U.S. models.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 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
John D. Rockefeller was 24 in 1863 when he invested in the emerging new technology of distilling crude into kerosene.
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
In Mr. Ferris’s physical science class we were distilling aspirins, very large aspirins, which by the time the last bell rang Mr. Ferris said he needed.
From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt
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.
