think-tank
think-tank is the alternative spelling of think tank.
Meaning of think tank
Noun
think tank (plural think tanks)
- A group of people who collectively perform research and develop reports and recommendations on topics relating to strategic planning or public policy, and which is usually funded by corporate, government, or special interests.
- Why don't we take a leaf out of the government's book and have a think tank?1974, The Think Tank (Are You Being Served?), season 2, episode 3, spoken by "Captain" Stephen Peacock (Frank Thornton)
- Synonyms:
- think factory
- The brain.
- Slade’s eyes, china blue and menacing, held hers for an instant, then he turned again to her father and completed his sentence, “or else I think I know a stunt that will speed up your work . . . something that will make your think-tank bubble a bit faster. And if it don’t, then you’ll learn...1937, Madge Macbeth, Wings in the West, London: J. Hamilton, page 261
Verb
think-tank (third-person singular simple present think-tanks, present participle think-tanking, simple past and past participle think-tanked)
- To perform research and develop recommendations as part of a think tank.
- The chairman had some quite remarkable hearings last year — I think you cited in your testimony Dr. Lange and others who came here and sort of think-tanked for us — and it was very interesting.1985, United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Courts, Civil Liberties, and the Administration of Justice, Audio and Video First Sale Doctrine
- In either event, depending on the nature of the business and the help needed, assistance through the entire procedure will be provided. Everything from devising a business plan to business expansion strategies are think-tanked.1990, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, Crisis, page 20
Forms of think-tank
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | think-tanks |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | think-tanks |
| present participle | think-tanking |
| past participle | think-tanked |
| past | think-tanked |
Questions about think-tank
- What does think-tank mean?
- Think-tank means to perform research and develop recommendations as part of a think tank.
- What is think-tank the alternative spelling of?
- Think-tank is the alternative spelling of think tank.
- What part of speech is think-tank?
- Think-tank is a verb.
- What is the past tense of think-tank?
- The past tense of think-tank is think-tanked.
Words near think-tank in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: think-tank (page history and authors); think tank (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “think-tank.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/think-tank. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.