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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

Putin will champion the results as a “signal of loyalty to the course the Kremlin has chosen,” said Maria Snegovaya, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

Last year alone, the German government procured defense contracts worth over three times as much as those in the U.K., according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, an independent think tank.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

U Min Zin, the director at a think tank focused on Myanmar, was arrested on 3 June after travelling to the Chinese city of Kunming for an academic conference.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

"There's a lot of citizen engagement," says Minna Alander, an analyst at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies think tank.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

As an analyst for the Rand Corporation, a think tank focused on military and international issues, he had been granted permission to conduct research at the Pentagon, home of the United States Department of Defense.

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

Some think-tank analysts invited to meet the Iranian delegation said they are wary of U.S. sanctions that restrict informal policy dialogues with Tehran’s officials.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

The construction boom is the first significant US military activity under that compact, explained Ongerung Kambes Kesolei, founder of local think-tank the Congress Point Institute.

From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026

A 2022 report by a non-proliferation think-tank put this figure at $640m.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

The figures have been much the same for years, both at Gallup and when tracked by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a think-tank.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026

You ought to be sent to Sulphur Springs and get your think-tank hoed out.

From The Uphill Climb by B. M. Bower