alambicar

From the noun alambique (“still”), from Arabic إِنْبِيق (ʔinbīq, “still”), from Ancient Greek ἄμβιξ (ámbix).

alambicar (first-person singular present alambico, first-person singular preterite alambiquei, past participle alambicado)

1. to distill
2. to complicate

From the noun alambique (“still”), from Arabic الإِنْبِيق (al-ʔinbīq, “still”), from Ancient Greek ἄμβιξ (ámbix).

alambicar (first-person singular present alambico, first-person singular preterite alambiquei, past participle alambicado)

1. to distill

   Synonym: destilar

2. (by extension) to refine

   Synonym: requintar

3. (by extension) to complicate excessively
4. to scrutinize, to examine closely

   Synonym: examinar

5. (pronominal) to become pretentious

• alambicado

From alambique (“still”) +‎ -ar.

• IPA^(key): /alambiˈkaɾ/
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: a‧lam‧bi‧car

alambicar (first-person singular present alambico, first-person singular preterite alambiqué, past participle alambicado)

1. (transitive) to distill

   Synonym: destilar

2. (transitive) to scrutinize, to examine closely

   Synonym: escrudiñar

3. (transitive) to complicate excessively
   • 1877, Benito Pérez Galdós, Gloria:

     […] la sociedad modelo, según las ideas de su padre, había alambicado y desvirtuado un poco la idea religiosa, dejándose seducir demasiado por los símbolos que la misma idea religiosa emplea como órganos eficaces y al mismo tiempo como culto tributado por la verdad a la belleza eterna.

     the model society, according to the ideas of his father, had complicated and somewhat distorted the religious idea, allowing itself to be seduced too much by the symbols that the same religious idea uses as effective organs and at the same time as a cult paid by the truth to eternal beauty.

• “alambicar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10