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📕 rednote ID(小红书号)：3881567312

Distill: Definition, Usage & Common Mistakes (2 meaning)

Meaning 1：to condense the essence (distill)

distill 🔊

/dɪˈstɪl/

to get the most important ideas or lessons from something, especially a lot of information or experience.

Distill meaning illustrated: person extracting key ideas from books and notes.

to condense the essence 🔊

➕

/tuː kənˈdens ði ˈesəns/

To extract the most crucial, valuable, or pure part from a complex body of information, experience, or material.

📁 Category：Language Evolution 🔖 Level：Intermediate

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

From Latin 'destillare': 'de-' (down) + 'stillare' (to drip). Literally 'to drip down'.

💡 Mnemonic

Think of a STILL (quiet) lake. Distilling makes a messy idea STILL and clear, like purifying water.

📖 Example

She spent years distilling the wisdom from ancient texts and her own diaries into a short, powerful guidebook for young artists. 🔊 She spent years condensing the essence of wisdom from ancient texts and her own diaries into a short, powerful guidebook for young artists.

🔗 Collocations

distill knowledge – to extract the core insights from accumulated information

distill information – to boil down complex data into its most critical points

distill into – to refine and reduce something to a more concentrated form

🔄 Synonyms

extract (v.) – To remove or obtain a core element, often with effort.

condense (v.) – To make something shorter or more concentrated by removing less important parts.

refine (v.) – To improve something by removing impurities or unwanted elements.

🚫 Antonyms

jumble (v.) – To mix things together in a confused or disordered way.

🌱 Derivatives

distillation (n.) – The process or result of distilling, either literally or figuratively.

📖 Cultural Story

Originates from medieval Latin 'destillare', describing the physical process of liquid dripping down. The modern abstract meaning of extracting the essential idea evolved by the 16th century, mirroring how distillation purifies a substance.

Meaning 2：to purify by vaporization and condensation (distill)

distill 🔊

/dɪˈstɪl/

to make a liquid pure by heating it so it turns to gas, then cooling it to collect the pure liquid. Also used to extract a substance from a plant.

Distill process diagram: glass apparatus purifying liquid via vaporization.

to purify by vaporization and condensation 🔊

➕

/tuː ˈpjʊrəfaɪ baɪ ˌveɪpəraɪˈzeɪʃən ənd ˌkɒndenˈseɪʃən/

To purify a liquid by heating it to create vapor, then cooling the vapor to collect the purified liquid. Also refers to extracting the volatile components of a plant.

📁 Category：Technology & Inventions 🔖 Level：Intermediate

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Example

To make pure rose water, you can gently heat rose petals with water and distill the fragrant steam. 🔊 To make pure rose water, you can gently heat rose petals with water and purify the fragrant steam through vaporization and condensation.

🔗 Collocations

distill water – to purify water by the process of distillation

distill alcohol – to produce spirits like whiskey or vodka through distillation

distill essential oils – to extract concentrated aromatic compounds from plants

🔄 Synonyms

purify (v.) – To remove contaminants or unwanted elements from a substance.

refine (v.) – To remove impurities or unwanted substances, often from a fuel or metal.

extract (v.) – To obtain a substance from a material by a physical or chemical process.

🚫 Antonyms

contaminate (v.) – To make something impure by exposure to or addition of a poisonous or polluting substance.

pollute (v.) – To make air, water, etc., dirty and dangerous, especially with chemicals or waste.

🌱 Derivatives

distillate (n.) – A purified liquid product obtained from distillation.

distillery (n.) – A place where alcoholic drinks are produced by distillation.