distill

verb

dis·​till di-ˈstil How to pronounce distill (audio)
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
some caves are dry, others distill water from invisible riftsNorman Douglas
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

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 All this toil gave Acocella the ability and license to distill and make big judgments even within the restrictive word count of a review or magazine piece. Charles Arrowsmith, Los Angeles Times, 26 Feb. 2024 Among the aims of Work’s AI initiative was a means to distill the vast amounts of information sucked up by satellites, phone intercepts, emails, and drones sitting in intelligence and military data banks into something accessible. Andrew Cockburn, Harper's Magazine, 20 Jan. 2024 Ben Clay, a former Special Forces soldier working on the case with other military veterans, sent her instructions for how to distill and purify water from non-potable sources such as toilet tanks. Dan Lamothe, Washington Post, 8 Jan. 2024 However, to distill this abundance into a more digestible form, here's a concise roundup of the 10 best ski resorts in Canada. Jonny Bierman, Travel + Leisure, 2 Jan. 2024 In art, late styles tend to distill all that came before. Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 25 Dec. 2023 Both books distill that period’s spirit of hyper-capitalism and individualism into a detailed system for organizing and prioritizing every action of your day in pursuit of self-actualization. Cal Newport, The New Yorker, 26 Jan. 2024 Who knows what the political landscape will look like a year and a half from now, but in the short term this means that U.S. spirits exports will continue to make their way into the European market with less of a financial toll on the producers who distill and age them. Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 20 Dec. 2023 Our goal is to distill meaningful insights from a wide array of transactional information and present them in a clear, digestible format. Gary Drenik, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2023

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

Dictionary Entries Near distill

Cite this Entry

“Distill.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/distill. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

distill

verb
dis·​till
variants also distil
distilled; distilling
: to obtain or purify by distillation

Medical Definition

distill

verb
dis·​till
variants also distil
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

More from Merriam-Webster on distill

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