How to Use distill in a Sentence

distill

verb
  • They distill the whiskey from malted barley.
  • He has perfectly distilled the meaning of the holiday into a poem.
  • To distill it to any one metric makes little sense.
    — Lily Altavena, Freep.com, 1 Oct. 2025
  • His ability to distill melodies to their essence works the same way.
    — Nathan Carson | For The Oregonian/oregonlive, oregonlive, 18 Feb. 2022
  • Trying to distill it down to those who are – who were least likely to vote for me.
    — CBS News, 28 June 2026
  • Then distill those business concepts down to the most basic idea.
    — Chris Venezia, Forbes, 22 Mar. 2023
  • Lydia’s speech distills what is so great about Latinx shows about mom-dom.
    — refinery29.com, 11 May 2018
  • This claim is true, but requires some more context to distill how the discount came about.
    — Seth A. Richardson, cleveland.com, 25 Oct. 2017
  • Holman would join him, learning about mashes and how to distill.
    — Kathleen Purvis, charlotteobserver, 12 May 2017
  • Here are the beautiful brass tanks used to distill the world- famous drink.
    — Fox News, 22 May 2018
  • Count on us to distill all of the action into tidy, digestible news items that keep you up to date.
    — Tim Rohan, SI.com, 1 Sep. 2019
  • But even then, only three counties were allowed to distill.
    — Melinda Salchert, Southern Living, 2 Apr. 2026
  • The goal was not only to distill but to also entertain and serve.
    — Kara Carlson, Dallas News, 12 Aug. 2019
  • Yet how to distill his disgust and concern in a single image?
    — Michael Cavna, Washington Post, 29 June 2024
  • The company also distills liquors and has a cocktail menu in the speakeasy.
    — Julia Sayers, AL.com, 25 May 2017
  • There are ideas that feel too big to not try to distill in something like jewelry, art or fashion.
    — Julissa James, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2024
  • For every frustration in Javed’s life, there is a verse that distills it.
    — J.t., The Economist, 15 Aug. 2019
  • For decades, researchers have tried to distill a magic recipe of why some schools succeed more than others.
    — Trisha Powell Crain | [email protected], al, 6 Dec. 2021
  • Don’t be surprised if brands take advantage of this and snap up a bunch of cheap agave to distill, even with sales in a slump.
    — Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 3 Jan. 2025
  • The water used to proof and distill the vodka comes from springs fueled by snow and rainwater.
    — Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 19 Jan. 2023
  • Both films take a big social issue, distill it, and tell the story of real human cost.
    — Kathleen Newman-Bremang, refinery29.com, 22 Sep. 2020
  • Chris Stapleton has been able to distill some smooth country blues music over the years.
    — Mike Snider, USA TODAY, 21 Jan. 2024
  • Rosin bags are made from a sap that’s pulled from pine trees in Honduras, then boiled to distill out the turpentine.
    — Jason Mastrodonato, Mercury News, 29 Mar. 2025
  • This back-and-forth seemed to distill the sick logic of the Weinstein affair.
    — Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 17 Feb. 2020
  • Once a still is installed, Hoosier Brewing will distill whiskey, vodka, rum and gin.
    — Elizabeth Depompei, Indianapolis Star, 23 Jan. 2020
  • Another option is to distill your tap water.
    — Samantha Johnson, Martha Stewart, 9 Jan. 2026
  • This reinstatement is just one example of the pair’s deft efforts to distill the shop to its essence.
    — Hannah Goldfield, The New Yorker, 11 Nov. 2022
  • This recipe offers a textbook lesson in how to distill the very essence of peaches and then infuse it into a frozen dessert.
    — Wolfgang Puck, Twin Cities, 14 Aug. 2019
  • The challenge was to distill that into looks that told the story that Emerald wanted to tell.
    — Radhika Seth, Vogue, 10 Jan. 2026
  • Keeping that in mind is how Van Halen the band managed to distill such pure rock radio sunshine.
    — Keith Spera, NOLA.com, 6 Oct. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'distill.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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