distill

American  

[dih-stil] / dɪˈstɪl /

especially British, distil

verb (used with object)

• distils,
  present (3rd person singular)
• distilled,
  past participle,  past
• distilling
  present participle

1. to subject to a process of vaporization and subsequent condensation, as for purification or concentration.

2. to extract the volatile components of by distillation; transform by distillation.

3. to concentrate, purify, or obtain by or as by distillation.

   to distill whiskey from mash.

4. to remove by distillation (usually followed by off orout ).

   to distill out impurities.

5. to extract the essential elements of; refine; abstract.

   She managed to distill her ideas into one succinct article.

6. to let fall in drops; give forth in or as in drops.

   The cool of the night distills the dew.

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verb (used without object)

• distils,
  present (3rd person singular)
• distilled,
  past participle,  past
• distilling
  present participle

1. to undergo or perform distillation.

2. to become vaporized and then condensed in distillation.

3. to drop, pass, or condense as a distillate.

4. to fall in drops; trickle; exude.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• redistillableness
  noun
• redistill
  verb (used with object)
• distillable
  adjective
• nondistillable
  adjective
• redistillable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• distilling
  present
• distilled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• distill
  simple
• distils
  simple
• have distilled
  perfect
• has distilled
  perfect
• am distilling
  progressive
• are distilling
  progressive
• is distilling
  progressive
• have been distilling
  perfect progressive
• has been distilling
  perfect progressive

Past

• distilled
  simple
• had distilled
  perfect
• was distilling
  progressive
• were distilling
  progressive
• had been distilling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will distill
  simple
• will have distilled
  perfect
• will be distilling
  progressive
• will have been distilling
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of distill

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English distillen (from Anglo-French distiller ), from Latin distillāre, variant of dēstillāre, equivalent to dē- de- + stillāre to drip

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Explanation

When you distill something, you are boiling it down to its essence — its most important part. Whether it's alcohol or ideas, the distilled part is the most powerful. The original meaning of distill comes from the process of making alcohol, known as distilling, in which all the impurities of a substance are vaporized and its pure, high-alcohol condensation collected. Distill eventually came to mean any process in which the essence of something is revealed. If you take notes at a lecture and then turn them into an essay for your professor, you're distilling your notes into something more pure and exact. At least, that's what you hope you're doing.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

distill distils distilled distilling

A.I.-powered diagnostics distill all of this into one clear picture of your entire body, in 360-degree, piercing-into-the-soul, high-resolution detail.

From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026

Funko’s job, he said, is to distill what people love about a character into a stylized version of it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026

And who better to distill reams of complex information than someone who understands a picture is worth a thousand words?

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026

“Diamond in a Coal Mine” and “Hey God” distill her roots and arrival.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026

And he’s trying to distill all of these ideas into easily digestible chunks—science meets pop science.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

The report, culminating a two-year evaluation of the 2015 Paris climate agreement goals, distils thousands of submissions from experts, governments and campaigners.

From Reuters ● Sep. 8, 2023

Sullivan says that the result he is proudest of is one he obtained in 1977, which distils the crucial properties of a space using a tool called rational homotopy.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 28, 2022

Shot, edited and directed by Matthew Killip, son of the revered British documentary photographer, Chris Killip, it distils Shepherd’s 30-year quest into just 16 magical minutes.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 23, 2020

Ram developed a tool called Holepunch for projects that use the statistical programming language R. Holepunch distils the process of setting up Binder into four simple commands.

From Nature ● Nov. 4, 2019

Well, there may be a poison that distils itself out of good things; in an age when the existence of ptomaines is a mystery we should not wonder at anything!

From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker

White wine vinegar — or even plain distilled white vinegar — is excellent with potatoes, creamy chicken soups and corn chowders.

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026

It’s distilled and matured in the Canadian province of Manitoba, but then shipped in large containers to bottling facilities in the U.S. for distribution to American customers.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026

Now, at the age of 82, Mr. Damasio has distilled many of his central insights into “Natural Intelligence & the Logic of Consciousness.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

He distilled the disagreement into the dissent’s sharpest line.

From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2026

In very halting demonic, I told them about the waters of the Pearl River: thick and milky and colored a reddish yellow like the color of sunset distilled from the air.

From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep

Department of Justice, a case challenging the federal prohibition against home distilling.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

Librettists Kelley Rourke and Matt Foss have skillfully adapted the story, extracting its essential events and distilling them into a taut 90 minutes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

In 1941, the company purchased distilling facilities in Virginia and Lyons, N.Y., to increase production, then during the war it made pectin, a vital preservative used in military food rations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 10, 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

There were also a few highly cryptic lines distilling the art and sci­ence of navigation.

From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

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Related Words

• condense
• extract
• infuse
• refine

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