distill

verb

dis·​till di-ˈstil 

variants or less commonly distil

distilled; distilling

transitive verb

1

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

… a goodly sized back-log of red oak … still hissed with the heat, and distilled streams of water from each end …

—Nathaniel Hawthorne

2

a

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

distill molasses into rum

b

: to obtain by or as if by distillation

distill whiskey

able to distill humor from personal loss

c

: to extract the essence of : concentrate

distill the experience into a poem

intransitive verb

1

a

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

b

: to appear slowly or in small quantities at a time

2

a

: to undergo distillation

b

: to perform distillation

Synonyms of distill

• drip
• pour
• flow

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

Or a $12 shot of carrot eau de vie, a boozy blast of beta-carotene, that takes nearly 80 pounds of produce to distill a single liter. — Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026

Obscuring part of a model’s chain-of-thought reasoning can also make the model harder to distill—a method where a smaller model is trained on the outputs of a larger model. — Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 3 Sep. 2026

Just as a market will theoretically arrive at the optimal price for a good that reflects the interests of many agents, trading in predictions could distill research, observation, and belief into actionable odds. — Finn Brunton, Harpers Magazine, 1 Sep. 2026

Any attempt to distill 25 years of TV history into 22 minutes is bound to leave something on the cutting room floor, and a playful title card in the middle of the special points out that not every show was worth remembering. — Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 30 Aug. 2026

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

Rhymes for distill

• anthill
• backfill
• bluegill
• crossbill
• distil
• downhill
• dunghill
• foothill
• fulfil
• fulfill
• goodwill
• gristmill

Kids Definition

distill

verb

dis·​till

variants also distil

dis-ˈtil 

distilled; distilling

: to obtain or purify by distillation

Medical Definition

distill

verb

dis·​till

variants also distil

dis-ˈtil 

distilled; distilling

transitive verb

1

: to subject to or transform by distillation

2

: to obtain by or as if by distillation

3

: to obtain an extract from (as a plant) by infusion and distillation

making medicines by distilling herbs

intransitive verb

1

: to undergo distillation

2

: to condense or drop from a still after distillation