think tank
UK/ˈθɪŋk ˌtæŋk/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
New Zealand/ˈθəŋk ˌtɛŋk/
think tank noun: 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.
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)
- As 1965 drew to a close a secret research project for the United States Department of Defense was concluded by a ‘think-tank’ of seven psychologists at the American Institute for Research, in the Maryland woods outside Washington, DC.1978, Peter Watson, War on the Mind, New York: Basic Books, →ISBN, page 21
- 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
think tank meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Arabic and Malay
think tank in Tamil
- கருத்தூற்றுக் களம், சிந்தனைக் கலம், கருத்துக் கலம்
think tank in Urdu
- group producing research and recommendations
- دائرہ دانش dā'ira-e-dāniś, فکر گاہ fikr-gāh, سوچ مرکز soć-markaz, تحقیقی ادارہ tahqīqī-idāra
think tank in Arabic
- group producing research and recommendations
- خَلِيَّة تَفْكِير
think tank in Malay
- group producing research and recommendations
- kumpulan pemikir
More languagesFewer languages
- think tank in Indonesian
- lembaga pemikir, wadah pemikir
- think tank in Persian
- اندیشکده andiškade, اتاقِ فکر otâq-e fekr
Synonyms of think tank
Forms of think tank
| plural | think tanks |
|---|---|
| alternative form | thinktank |
| alternative form | think-tank |
Origin of think tank
From the use of think tank or think box in the 19th century to refer to the human brain.
Words formed from think tank
Questions about think tank
- What does think tank mean?
- Think tank means 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.
- What is think tank in Tamil?
- Think tank in Tamil is கருத்தூற்றுக் களம், சிந்தனைக் கலம், கருத்துக் கலம். See Think tank meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is think tank?
- Think tank is a noun.
- How do you pronounce think tank?
- Think tank is pronounced /ˈθɪŋk ˌtæŋk/ (UK).
- What is the plural of think tank?
- The plural of think tank is think tanks.
Words near think tank in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: think tank (page history and authors); think tank (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-think tank.ogg.
Cite this entry: “think tank.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/think_tank. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.