Jump To:

• 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

1. 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 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

---

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.)

---

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.

---

Etymology

Origin of think tank

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

Example Sentences

One is Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a think tank.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 5, 2026

Those costs are worth it given the risks posed by biological weapons, said Dean Ball, a former Trump AI adviser now at the Foundation for American Innovation think tank, which helped organize the letter.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026

A recent report from the nonpartisan think tank Energy Innovation found that 99% of all U.S. coal plants are now more expensive to run than replacement by new local solar, wind or energy storage.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2026

In the last three presidential elections, Trump triumphed in 90 percent of all rural counties in America, according to the Economic Innovation Group, a think tank.

From Barron's • Jun. 2, 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