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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

For analyst Elias Ferrer of the Orinoco think tank, the investment is good news, even without specifics.

From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026

“The president this time is focused on the Indo-Pacific as a market,” said Richard M. Rossow, chair on India and emerging Asia economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

"To be able to meet the 2030 climate target, annual savings of around 40 million tonnes of CO2 are required," the think tank said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026

Warsh was a fellow at the Hoover Institution, a right-leaning think tank on the grounds of Stanford University, for 15 years after serving as a Fed governor from 2006 until 2011.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

Mr. Golden, still getting maximum usage from his beloved Grade Sorter, raved about the design to one of his former classmates, the director of a big city think tank in Richmond, Virginia.

From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles

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

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

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

That could see a left-wing figure like Angela Rayner or Ed Miliband joining any race, Labour's former policy director Andrew Fisher told a think-tank event this week.

From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026

Uttar Pradesh is especially vulnerable because of its vast exposed population, dependence on outdoor work and limited access to cooling for millions of households, according to think-tank Climate Trends.

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026

She had worked for SRI International, the California think-tank that was also the home of computer-security maven Donn Parker, and had authored an influential text called Cryptography and Data Security.

From The Hacker Crackdown, law and disorder on the electronic frontier by Bruce Sterling