think-tank

think tank

An organization or group of people working to perform research and propose solutions and courses of action to another organization or group, often political parties, government bodies, or the military. President Ronald Reagan based many of his policies on the results of a study done by the Heritage Foundation, an influential conservative think tank.
See also: tank, think
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

think-tank

n. a place where great minds are assembled to try to think up solutions to problems or to envision the future. She spent a few months in a California think-tank, then came back to teach.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • think tank
  • ginger group
  • member
  • paid-up member (of something)
  • card-carrying member
  • a card-carrying member (of something)
  • a paid-up member, etc.
  • be a (fully) paid-up member of something
  • be a card-carrying member (of something)
  • fully
References in periodicals archive
This was to counter the long held perception by some sections of the public about think-tanks being pro-government and channels for making profit and hence shouldn't be taken serious.
The MoU between two think-tanks shows the development of the relation between the two countries.
It is evident, in Africa as elsewhere, that the greater the media exposure, the more relevant the think-tank is considered and therefore the easier it is to locate finance.
FNCCI has opened discussion over the formation of think-tank non-governmental organization with All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC) and Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) recently.
All such quibbling aside, the McGann and Johnson study is in many constructive ways informative on the subject of the specific political and economic variables underpinning a robust think-tank culture and society.
But the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think-tank urged both Labour and the Conservatives not to extend the number of academies being built.
In previous reports, the conservative think-tank predicted that health care expenditures of most provinces would reach the 50% mark by 2035.
The Danish government's think-tank on integration has proposed a number of recommendations on helping young immigrants prepare for the job market.
'The IWA brands itself as an independent think-tank; whether it's impartial we do question severely.
State theory can help explain the seeming anomalous eases of former think-tank staffers who enter government pledging to work for a certain set of ideas and then enacting policies that are quite different.
For example, the far-right NCPA's budget grew from $1.7 million in 1992 to $4.3 million in 1997, making it a major player in the think-tank world.
(15.) The role of think tanks in Germany is discussed by Lothar Scholz in, "The Think-Tank Landscape in Germany: A Look Behind the Mirror," paper presented at the conference on Think-Tanks in the USA and Germany: How and Where do Public Decision-Makers Obtain Their Knowledge?, Lauder Institute: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, November 18-20, 1983.
'The Think-Tank' was the popular name for the Central Policy Review Staff (CPRS) established by Edward Heath when Prime Minister in 1970.
Even though I must raise serious questions about the final report of the think-tank, holding it was a brilliant idea.
There is some debate over exactly what constitutes a think-tank. Nathalie Delapalme, the executive director for research and policy at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, says that her organisation is "probably more of a fact tank for business and decision makers than a think-tank".