Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Definitions

distill

[dih-stil] / dɪˈstɪl /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Scientists then distill that blood into antivenom for humans.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 21, 2026

In what was once a cottage industry, startups worth billions now pay humans to distill their hard-won subject-area expertise into lessons for the bots.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 17, 2026

Patience; communication, organizational and presentation skills; the ability to distill complex ideas; and project-management skills are all qualities and skills that can be valuable in many other professions.

From MarketWatch Mar. 9, 2026

Like “The Pitt,” “St. Denis Medical” and “Scrubs” distill the unique relationships between doctors, nurses and patients.

From Salon Feb. 26, 2026

The expertise at distillation that medieval Islamic alchemists developed to produce alcohols and perfumes also let them distill petroleum into fractions, some of which proved to be even more powerful incendiaries.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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

Although it seems a trivial example, the video clearly distils many of Labour's key policies into a 38 second long video, and was aimed a young audience unlikely to watch a conventional political broadcast.

From BBC Mar. 30, 2018

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

I’ve distilled their wisdom into three nonnegotiable rules that I now live by.

From MarketWatch Aug. 4, 2026

"We've distilled a version of Turing that is a two-dimensional stereotype," she added.

From BBC Jul. 24, 2026

In Klee’s final years, he distilled line, color, sign and plane into a shorthand, pictographic language that, uniquely his own, achieved new urgency, freedom and monumentality.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 8, 2026

A stage adaptation can’t duplicate the way Lumet visually distilled the rough-and-tumble New York zeitgeist of the tumultuous early 1970s.

From Los Angeles Times Apr. 29, 2026

Love as rarely exists in reality, as if a master alchemist has taken it and distilled out all the impurities, every petty disenchantment, every unworthy thought, into a perfect elixir, sweet and deep and all-consuming.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Holder is now distilling hundreds of hours of raw camera footage for a documentary currently titled “Lindsey’s Game,” which he said he wants to release in the coming months.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 26, 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

John D. Rockefeller was 24 in 1863 when he invested in the emerging new technology of distilling crude into kerosene.

From Barron's May 2, 2026

Producers roast the rounded hearts of agave plants in fire pits or kilns, then crush and ferment the cooked material before distilling it in smaller batches.

From Science Daily Apr. 26, 2026

By the evening of that day Napoleon was back at work, and on the next day it was learned that he had instructed Whymper to purchase in Willingdon some booklets on brewing and distilling.

From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell




Vocabulary lists containing distill


Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training