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

OpenAI’s report on influence campaigns mounted using its technology also described a cluster of ChatGPT accounts in Russia that were banned after they were used to operate what appeared to be a fake think tank in Latin America. — Miriam Waldvogel, Washington Post, 9 Oct. 2026

Before joining Treasury, Shelton was a senior fellow at the Independent Institute, a free market think tank, and, before that, at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. — Steve Liesman, CNBC, 9 Oct. 2026

Researchers who study reproductive health said the think tank’s findings, which were neither peer-reviewed nor published in a medical journal, amounted to junk science. — Aria Bendix, NBC news, 8 Oct. 2026

This legislative push reflects a feeling even in the GOP that the market for prescription drugs is being gamed, said Antonio Ciaccia, CEO of 46brooklyn Research, a nonprofit think tank that tracks drug pricing. — Blake Farmer, NPR, 5 Oct. 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