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• think tank
  think tank

  noun

  a research institute or organization employed to solve complex problems or predict or plan future developments, as in military, political, or social areas.
• think-tank
  think-tank

  noun

  a group of specialists organized by a business enterprise, governmental body, etc, and commissioned to undertake intensive study and research into specified problems

think tank

American  

noun

think tanks plural

1. a research institute or organization employed to solve complex problems or predict or plan future developments, as in military, political, or social areas.

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think-tank British  

noun

1. informal a group of specialists organized by a business enterprise, governmental body, etc, and commissioned to undertake intensive study and research into specified problems

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think tank Cultural  

1. An institution in which scholars pursue research in public policy. Largely funded by endowments and grants, think tanks work to improve public awareness of policy issues (through publications) and to influence the government to act upon issues of national importance. (See power elite.)

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think tank Idioms  

1. A group or organization dedicated to problem-solving and research, especially in such areas as technology, social or political strategy, and the military. For example, The congressional leaders rely too heavily on that conservative think tank. This term originated about 1900 as a facetious colloquialism for brain and was given its new meaning about 1950.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• think tanks
  plural

Etymology

Origin of think tank

1900–05 for earlier sense “brain”; 1955–60 for current sense

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

think tank think-tank

Italy is second to Spain in the EU for desalination capacity, accounting for around 7.6 percent of daily EU production, according to data from the think tank The European House -- Ambrosetti.

From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026

Victoria Dittmar, a researcher at InSight Crime, a think tank, has spent years investigating the flow of precursor chemicals into Mexico.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

“The chance of the region and Hormuz going back to the old normal is effectively zero,” said Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

However, Will McBride, chief economist at the Tax Foundation think tank, says the scheme is too complicated to sign up to, which will lead, in his view to a "minority that benefits".

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026

During those chaotic years, as the basic functioning of Kim Jong Il’s government stalled, think tank experts in the West were writing books with doomsday titles such as The End of North Korea.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden

Paul Johnson, former director of think-tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies, sees this as a positive.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

Magnus Taylor, a Horn of Africa analyst at the International Crisis Group think-tank, does not believe there will be an immediate return to war.

From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026

The think-tank has examined how the technology could help or harm dozens of professions -- from cobblers to sewer cleaners, farmers to tea sellers.

From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026

"This may buy the UK some temporary reprieve from Trump but will not fundamentally change what remains a very fractured so-called special relationship," Evie Aspinall, director of the British Foreign Policy Group think-tank, told AFP.

From Barron's ● May 1, 2026

I've been turning my think-tank on to the Hudson Bay Transport flotation.

From Swirling Waters by Rittenberg, Max