Make Your Point > Archived Issues > DISTILL

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pronounce DISTILL: Say it "diss TILL." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: Sometimes the Oxford English Dictionary gets poetic. It defines our word distill as "to extract the quintessence of." I love that: when you're distilling something, you're drawing out its quintessence: the parts of it that are purest, most perfect, and most essential, drop by drop. Speaking of doing things drop by drop, see if you can recall a word closely related to distill that literally means "to drop in" but figuratively means "to put into the mind or heart little by little, again and again for a long time." It's __still. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)  definition: Our word "distill" has Latin roots that literally mean "to drip apart, or to drop apart." It's been around in English for hundreds of years and has taken on many meanings. Here are the ones we most commonly use today: To distill a substance is to make it more pure, or make it more concentrated, by heating it up into a vapor, then letting it cool into a liquid. It's something you might do to water, or to wine or other alcoholic drinks. So, figuratively speaking, to distill something is to squeeze it down into its purest, most concentrated form. grammatical bits: Part of speech: Verb, the transitive kind: "They distilled the entire book into a single tagline." Other forms:  Distilled, distilling, distillation, distillable. (There are lots more forms related to literal distillation of beverages, but we won't worry about those.) how to use it: Often, we're literal: we talk about distilling gin, beer, vinegar, etc. But let's focus on the figurative. When the phrases "boil it down" or "sum it up" are too casual, we can pick the graceful, serious word "distill." We distill a long, complex thing into something short or simple: ---"Journalists distill complex events into brief headlines." ---"He distilled his philosophy of life into two words: 'Be kind.'" ---"When George Orwell distilled his chilling vision of totalitarianism into a single image, he imagined this: 'If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever'" (Washington Post). Although we usually follow that same pattern--"distill this into that"--you can tweak the phrasing a bit. You might talk about distilling something to or down to something. Here's the New York Times: "Backyard camping is camping distilled to its essence. It's about the novelty of sleeping outside, the being together, the fire." Or, talk about distilling something from something. Here's Scientific American: "Human programmers... must first distill rules from theories and observations." And sometimes, you simply talk about distilling something: "I let these comedians distill the week's news for me." examples: "[Bishop Bruce Edward Davis] distilled the Bible into simple lessons."    — Contributors, paraphrasing Davis's wife Gwendolyn, The Guardian, 2 June 2020 "Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II composed a stunning up-tempo duet for Anna and the King of Siam that distilled the musical's romance down to a dizzying ballroom polka."    — Peter Marks, Washington Post, 7 May 2020 has this page helped you understand "distill"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "distill" without saying "refine" or "boil down." try it out: I bet it's hard to write a good slogan, or a good bumper sticker. They have to distill complex ideas into very few words. Which of the stickers below strikes you as the best (or worst) distillation? What are the complex ideas it distills--or fails to distill? If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game this month is "Faces & Feelings." If the word you're studying were a facial expression, what would it look like? Maybe one of the seven universal facial expressions, the ones identified by the psychologist Paul Ekman. In each issue, take a handful of words and assign each to an emotion it inspires. I'll list my answers at the bottom of each issue. Yours might be different from mine, which is okay--words, and emotions, are complex and personal! The goal here is just to interact with our words, to tie them more securely into memory by connecting them to emotion and to the face. Try this set today. Match each face on the left to a term on the right:     jaded jamais vu jeremiad jovial juggernaut keelhaul kowtow   review this word: 1. A near opposite of DISTILL is A. EXPAND. B. SUBSIDE. C. PRESSURE. 2. Prufrock seems to wander the city, eventually distilling his _____ a single question: "Do I dare disturb the universe?" A. mind above B. anxieties down into C. friends and potential dates with Answers to review questions: 1. A 2. B Suggested answers to game questions: jovial: joy jamais vu: surprise jaded: contempt jeremiad: sadness  keelhaul: anger kowtow: disgust juggernaut: fear a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.