Distil
verb
To make a liquid pure by heating and cooling it.
He distils his own water for drinking purposes.
Often appears as...
- distil water
- distil alcohol
Usage tips
Technical
verb
To obtain the essential meaning or most important aspects of something.
The report distils the most relevant information into a single page.
Often appears as...
- distil information
- distil knowledge
Usage tips
Academic
verb
To extract the essential elements of something, especially by heating it in a special piece of equipment.
The chemist distils the liquid to separate its components.
Often appears as...
- distil components
- distil mixture
verb
To drip or fall.
Sweat distils from his forehead as he works in the heat.
Often appears as...
- distil sweat
- distil tears
Usage tips
Literary
verb
To make a liquid pure by heating and cooling it.
He distils his own water for drinking purposes.
Often appears as...
- distil water
- distil alcohol
Usage tips
Technical
verb
To obtain the essential meaning or most important aspects of something.
The report distils the most relevant information into a single page.
Often appears as...
- distil information
- distil knowledge
Usage tips
Academic
verb
To extract the essential elements of something, especially by heating it in a special piece of equipment.
The chemist distils the liquid to separate its components.
Often appears as...
- distil components
- distil mixture
verb
To drip or fall.
Sweat distils from his forehead as he works in the heat.
Often appears as...
- distil sweat
- distil tears
Usage tips
Literary
Definition 1 of 4
Pro Tip 1/2Technical Process
Distil refers to a specific method used to purify liquids, often performed in a lab.
The scientist carefully distils the sample in the lab.
Pro Tip 2/2Heating and Cooling
The process of distilling always involves heating the liquid first and then cooling it to collect the pure form.
At home, you can distil water by boiling and condensing the steam.
Pro Tip 1/2Technical Process
Distil refers to a specific method used to purify liquids, often performed in a lab.
The scientist carefully distils the sample in the lab.
Pro Tip 2/2Heating and Cooling
The process of distilling always involves heating the liquid first and then cooling it to collect the pure form.
At home, you can distil water by boiling and condensing the steam.
Pro Tip 1/2Technical Process
Distil refers to a specific method used to purify liquids, often performed in a lab.
The scientist carefully distils the sample in the lab.
Pro Tip 2/2Heating and Cooling
The process of distilling always involves heating the liquid first and then cooling it to collect the pure form.
At home, you can distil water by boiling and condensing the steam.
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Video examples
Master the art of public...
and each lesson will help you master a discreet presentation skill. First, you'll learn how to identify, develop and distill your best ideas. Next, you'll learn how to prepare yourself for presenting those ideas. And finally, you'll learn a variety of techniques that'll help you deliver your talk
Video examples
Is Your Perfume Made...
The tree has to be infected with a certain fungus, which turns this usually pale wood into a dark resinous fibre, also known as agarwood. The whole process can take up to 100 years in the wild. The agarwood is then fermented and distilled to create the distinct oud fragrance.
Video examples
Reprogramming Perception...
and I put them in a solvent. And then I distill it from very traditional ways, like with glassware. There's something so inherently sensual about smell. I think in the current landscape that we're in, it's really important to come back to these sensual experiences.
Video examples
Michael Tilson Thomas:...
is just the music of everyday life. It's all the anthems and dance crazes and ballads and marches. But what classical music does is to distill all of these musics down, to condense them to their absolute essence, and from that essence create a new language,
Video examples
What it takes to be a...
beyond their tenure. And then, when I returned to work full time, in this role, I joined with wonderful colleagues who were also interested in these questions. Now, from all this, I distilled the characteristics of leaders who are thriving
Video examples
What really matters at...
Which is to say, of course, it was badly designed. And nowhere are the effects of bad design more heartbreaking or the opportunity for good design more compelling than at the end of life, where things are so distilled and concentrated.
Video examples
Meklit Hadero: The...
its wax and gold, its humor, its proverbs that illuminate the wisdom and follies of life. But there's also this melodicism, a musicality built right in. And I find this distilled most clearly in what I like to call emphatic language --
Video examples
A history of intertwining...
welcome you to my city to my country to this wonderful place of British Columbia and just as landscape holds the key to character culture Springs from a spirit of place Margaret Atwood said that if you wanted to distill the essence of
Video examples
Tan Le: My immigration...
For her, life had distilled itself into one the escape of her family and a new life in Australia. It was inconceivable to her that she would not succeed. So after a four-year saga that defies fiction,
Video examples
Rob Hopkins: Transition...
If you could help me with that it would be fantastic. This is a liter of oil. This bottle of oil, distilled over a hundred million years of geological time,
Video examples
Master the art of public...
and each lesson will help you master a discreet presentation skill. First, you'll learn how to identify, develop and distill your best ideas. Next, you'll learn how to prepare yourself for presenting those ideas. And finally, you'll learn a variety of techniques that'll help you deliver your talk
Video examples
Is Your Perfume Made...
The tree has to be infected with a certain fungus, which turns this usually pale wood into a dark resinous fibre, also known as agarwood. The whole process can take up to 100 years in the wild. The agarwood is then fermented and distilled to create the distinct oud fragrance.
Video examples
Reprogramming Perception...
and I put them in a solvent. And then I distill it from very traditional ways, like with glassware. There's something so inherently sensual about smell. I think in the current landscape that we're in, it's really important to come back to these sensual experiences.
Video examples
Michael Tilson Thomas:...
is just the music of everyday life. It's all the anthems and dance crazes and ballads and marches. But what classical music does is to distill all of these musics down, to condense them to their absolute essence, and from that essence create a new language,
Video examples
What it takes to be a...
beyond their tenure. And then, when I returned to work full time, in this role, I joined with wonderful colleagues who were also interested in these questions. Now, from all this, I distilled the characteristics of leaders who are thriving
Video examples
What really matters at...
Which is to say, of course, it was badly designed. And nowhere are the effects of bad design more heartbreaking or the opportunity for good design more compelling than at the end of life, where things are so distilled and concentrated.
Video examples
Meklit Hadero: The...
its wax and gold, its humor, its proverbs that illuminate the wisdom and follies of life. But there's also this melodicism, a musicality built right in. And I find this distilled most clearly in what I like to call emphatic language --
Video examples
A history of intertwining...
welcome you to my city to my country to this wonderful place of British Columbia and just as landscape holds the key to character culture Springs from a spirit of place Margaret Atwood said that if you wanted to distill the essence of
Video examples
Tan Le: My immigration...
For her, life had distilled itself into one the escape of her family and a new life in Australia. It was inconceivable to her that she would not succeed. So after a four-year saga that defies fiction,
Video examples
Rob Hopkins: Transition...
If you could help me with that it would be fantastic. This is a liter of oil. This bottle of oil, distilled over a hundred million years of geological time,
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Brin-Jonathan Butler
American Journalist
Boxing distills and illuminates the essence of an athlete. There's nowhere to hide. Boxers live and perform at the extremes. They provide us with answers about a given contest, but more important, they ask us fundamental questions about human narratives. What does this person really stand for? How far will he go to defend it?
Quote examples
Kevin Spacey
American Actor
When you're just able to distill it down to the idea and the feeling that a character is experiencing in a scene, it can become very, very razor sharp and really clean and really efficient and simple. And sometimes it takes twenty-five years to learn how to be simple.
Quote examples
Miguel Sapochnik
English Director
Making movies is all about compromise, negotiation, and sacrifice, but the process helps you distill what's really important to you, and once you have identified what those these things are for any particular sequence, you hold onto them and don't let them go.
Quote examples
Beck
American Musician
Sometimes things in life take a few years to digest, and they find their way into the work later on. Sometimes I'm writing about things from eight years ago-they just took a long time to distill and come out in the appropriate way.
Quote examples
Terry Goodkind
American Writer
Fantasy allows you bend the world and the situation to more clearly focus on the moral aspects of what's happening. In fantasy you can distill life down to the essence of your story.
Quote examples
Julian Bream
British Musician
Your experience of life is to a large part distilled into your performing. As you grow older, you concentrate on aspects of music that you perhaps only touched on earlier.
Quote examples
David Leitch
American Actor
I think in the 'Deadpool' franchise, the writers are really good at distilling the good stuff and applying that to the material in this universe.
Quote examples
Meena Harris
American Lawyer
If I were to distill my household, it was a passion for social justice and a love for food and laughter.
Quote examples
Edward Albee
American Dramatist
A play is fiction - and fiction is fact distilled into truth.
Quote examples
Gwendolyn Brooks
American Poet
Poetry is life distilled.
Quote examples
Brin-Jonathan Butler
American Journalist
Boxing distills and illuminates the essence of an athlete. There's nowhere to hide. Boxers live and perform at the extremes. They provide us with answers about a given contest, but more important, they ask us fundamental questions about human narratives. What does this person really stand for? How far will he go to defend it?
Quote examples
Kevin Spacey
American Actor
When you're just able to distill it down to the idea and the feeling that a character is experiencing in a scene, it can become very, very razor sharp and really clean and really efficient and simple. And sometimes it takes twenty-five years to learn how to be simple.
Quote examples
Miguel Sapochnik
English Director
Making movies is all about compromise, negotiation, and sacrifice, but the process helps you distill what's really important to you, and once you have identified what those these things are for any particular sequence, you hold onto them and don't let them go.
Quote examples
Beck
American Musician
Sometimes things in life take a few years to digest, and they find their way into the work later on. Sometimes I'm writing about things from eight years ago-they just took a long time to distill and come out in the appropriate way.
Quote examples
Terry Goodkind
American Writer
Fantasy allows you bend the world and the situation to more clearly focus on the moral aspects of what's happening. In fantasy you can distill life down to the essence of your story.
Quote examples
Julian Bream
British Musician
Your experience of life is to a large part distilled into your performing. As you grow older, you concentrate on aspects of music that you perhaps only touched on earlier.
Quote examples
David Leitch
American Actor
I think in the 'Deadpool' franchise, the writers are really good at distilling the good stuff and applying that to the material in this universe.
Quote examples
Meena Harris
American Lawyer
If I were to distill my household, it was a passion for social justice and a love for food and laughter.
Quote examples
Edward Albee
American Dramatist
A play is fiction - and fiction is fact distilled into truth.
Quote examples
Gwendolyn Brooks
American Poet
Poetry is life distilled.
Example 1 of 10
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