variants
or less commonly distil
distilled; distilling
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 rifts—
Norman Douglas
Norman Douglas2
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
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
Pro Tip: Before your next meeting, distill your message into one sentence.
—Dr. Cynthia J. Young, Forbes.com, 23 July 2025
The trio's introspective nature doesn't take center stage as much as its ability to distill those thoughts into very digestible lyrics.
—Marcus K. Dowling, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025
Samsung can use this data to distill that into a score to tell you whether your habits are contributing to a risk of heart disease.
—James Peckham, PC Magazine, 18 June 2025
But developers are often reluctant to disclose their proprietary algorithms or data sources, both to protect intellectual property and because the complexity can be hard to distill.
—Turgay Ayer, The Conversation, 11 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for distill
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Dr. Cynthia J. Young, Forbes.com, 23 July 2025
The trio's introspective nature doesn't take center stage as much as its ability to distill those thoughts into very digestible lyrics.
—Marcus K. Dowling, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025
Samsung can use this data to distill that into a score to tell you whether your habits are contributing to a risk of heart disease.
—James Peckham, PC Magazine, 18 June 2025
But developers are often reluctant to disclose their proprietary algorithms or data sources, both to protect intellectual property and because the complexity can be hard to distill.
—Turgay Ayer, The Conversation, 11 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for distill
Cite this Entry
“Distill.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/distill. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids 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
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
1
: to undergo distillation
2
: to condense or drop from a still after distillation
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