Distil – 1. Separation by vaporising and condensing - you will be left with separate products that are a lot stronger 2. Extract the essential meaning or show only the important part of something

(Pronounced dih-stil)

To remember the definition of the word distil, use the following mnemonic:

The disk-shaped spacecraft came to a standstill (distil) and then its guns vaporised everything in sight before it all condensed. Fortunately I could just about see that my house, the most important thing to me, was still standing.

Examples of distil in a sentence (separation by vaporising)

You have to get the leftover solids to ferment and then you have to distil them.

They managed to distil a small quantity of water.

To survive, we need to learn how to distil fresh water from seawater.

Examples of distil in a sentence (extract the essential meaning)

Learn how to distil large quantities of information into their bare essentials.

Can I ask you to distil that essay into easy to understand sentences?

Much of the problem comes from trying to distil a novel into a short feature film.