distil

American  

[dih-stil] / dɪˈstɪl /

verb (used with or without object)

distilled, distilling

1. Chiefly British. a variant of distill.

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distil British  

/ dɪsˈtɪl /

verb

1. to subject to or undergo distillation See also rectify

2. to purify, separate, or concentrate, or be purified, separated, or concentrated by distillation

3. to obtain or be obtained by distillation

   to distil whisky

4. to exude or give off (a substance) in drops or small quantities

5. (tr) to extract the essence of as if by distillation

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Other Word Forms

• distillable adjective

Etymology

Origin of distil

C14: from Latin dēstillāre to distil, from _de- + stillāre to drip

Example Sentences

In a Nasa video, each of the astronauts distil the mission into a single phrase.

From BBC

It’s hard to distil elections in a country as large as India to just a few faces - political choices can vary widely from region to region.

From BBC

It was given to CMAL, who then used a design firm to distil this into a 130-page document which was sent to all the bidders.

From BBC

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

Cleverly said any attempt to distil the relationship down to a single word or a sound bite was fundamentally flawed.

From Reuters