1. to purify a liquid by heating it until it becomes vapor and then cooling the vapor back into liquid
Usage: third person singular present tense of ‘distill’
2. to extract the essential meaning or most important aspects of something
Usage: figurative use

Examples

• The chemist distils water to remove impurities.
• The factory distils alcohol from fermented grain.
• She distils complex theories into simple explanations.
• The report distils years of research into key findings.
• He distils the essence of the story in one paragraph.
• The process distils seawater into drinking water.