think tank

noun

: an institute, corporation, or group organized to study a particular subject (such as a policy issue or a scientific problem) and provide information, ideas, and advice

an information technology think tank

… was responsible for the armies of new political-action committees, lobbyists and rightward think tanks that poured into Washington to counter the consumer and environmental movements he helped to inspire.

—Jonathan Rowe

Examples of think tank in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

David Bier, the director of immigration studies at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, told NPR that DHS's statements show that issuing body cameras is not a priority for them. — Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, NPR, 16 July 2026

Atlas Public Policy, a think tank that tracks clean tech investments, found that Chinese companies announced overseas EV and battery investments totaling close to $101 billion from 2019 to 2025. — Robert Ferris, CNBC, 13 July 2026

More than a quarter of working-age adults who relied on credit cards to buy groceries were either unable to pay their balance in full or missed their minimum payment, according to the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. — Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 13 July 2026

Bright Simons is the honorary vice president at IMANI, a think tank in Accra, Ghana, and a visiting senior fellow at London think tank ODI Global. — Bright Simons, semafor.com, 13 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1958, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for think tank

• gangplank
• nonbank
• outflank
• sandbank
• antitank
• interbank
• riverbank
• banc
• bank
• blank
• clank
• crank

Kids Definition

think tank

noun

: an organization formed to think up new solutions especially for social and scientific problems