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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
If passed and signed into law, the legislation could result in the loss of 790,000 clean energy jobs by the end of the decade, according to an estimate by Energy Innovation, a nonpartisan climate policy think tank. Alan Ohnsman, Forbes.com, 30 June 2025 Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, doesn’t expect to see much reshoring tied to tariffs. Bailey Schulz, USA Today, 30 June 2025 Organized criminal gangs are driving the surge in car thefts in the country, the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) defense and security think tank said in a report published Thursday, with U.K. vehicle theft rising by 75% in the past decade to about 130,000 vehicles a year. Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 27 June 2025 Their doors bore no signs, or else misleading ones: for a travel agency, a translation bureau, a small think tank. Kian Tajbakhsh, The Atlantic, 27 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for think tank

Word History

First Known Use

1958, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of think tank was in 1958

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Cite this Entry

“Think tank.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/think%20tank. Accessed 4 Jul. 2025.

Kids Definition

think tank

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

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