distill

verb

dis·till di-ˈstil

variants or less commonly distil

distilled; distilling

Synonyms of distill next

transitive verb

: to let fall, exude, or precipitate (see precipitate entry 1 sense 3b) in drops or in a wet mist

some caves are dry, others distill water from invisible rifts—

Norman Douglas

: to purify or transform (a liquid) by successive evaporation and condensation : to subject to or transform by distillation

distill molasses into rum

: to obtain by or as if by distillation

distill whiskey

able to distill humor from personal loss

: to extract the essence of : concentrate

distill the experience into a poem

intransitive verb

: to fall or materialize in drops or in a fine moisture

: to appear slowly or in small quantities at a time

: to undergo distillation

: to perform distillation

Examples of distill in a Sentence

They distill the whiskey from malted barley. He has perfectly distilled the meaning of the holiday into a poem.

Recent Examples on the Web To distill Wilkerson’s ideas, DuVernay looks at the personal events that propelled the author to write Caste, shaping Origin as a process film. —

Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Sep. 2023 Some aspects of the cross-cultural mashup work better than others, but overall, this is a charming attempt to distill a centuries-old story into a quirky folktale that all children can enjoy. —

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Aug. 2023 My job requires me to analyze large, ambitious projects and clearly and concisely distill that information for others. —

cleveland, 4 Aug. 2023 The property features 25 spacious private log cabins and 19 lodge suites, seed-to-table culinary offerings — including fruits and vegetables grown in the on-site greenhouse and grains used to distill homemade spirits at the ranch’s distillery — and a state-of-the-art spa. —

Annie Archer, Travel + Leisure, 11 July 2023 The founders of La Pulga will distill their sotol in Fort Worth, not Mexico. —

Sarah Blaskovich, Dallas News, 2 Aug. 2023 The goal of identity transformation is for organizations to accommodate any workplace environment and to distill employee identity into a single, authoritative layer that improves workflows, productivity and security. —

Rajat Bhargava, Forbes, 21 Apr. 2023 In fact, 50 years later, when Warner Bros. was looking for a way to distill Batman to his purest form in Batman: The Animated Series, their chief inspiration was this series of films. —

Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 6 July 2023 Last week, the NFL tried to distill its gambling policy into six rules for players to remember. —

Mark Inabinett | Minabinett@al.com, al, 30 June 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'distill.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English distillen, from Anglo-French distiller, from Late Latin distillare, alteration of Latin destillare, from de- + stillare to drip, from stilla drop

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of distill was in the 14th century

See more words from the same century