think tankとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From the use of think tank or think box in the 19th century to refer to the human brain.

発音

• enPR: thĭngk′ tăngk′
• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada, General Australian) IPA: /ˈθɪŋk ˌtæŋk/

• (New Zealand) IPA: /ˈθəŋk ˌtɛŋk/
• (Received Pronunciation, Scotland) IPA: /ˈθɪŋk ˌtaŋk/
• (India) IPA: /ˈt̪ɪŋk ˌʈaŋk/
• ハイフネーション: think tank

名詞

think tank (plural think tanks)

1. (idiomatic) 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.

   Synonym: think factory

   • 1974, The Think Tank (Are You Being Served?), season 2, episode 3, spoken by "Captain" Stephen Peacock (Frank Thornton):

     Why don't we take a leaf out of the government's book and have a think tank?

   • 1978, Peter Watson, War on the Mind, New York: Basic Books, →ISBN, page 21:

     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.

   • 2025 November 13, David A. Fahrenthold, Ken Bensinger, quoting Charles Jacobs, “Under Fire for Tucker Carlson Remarks, Think Tank Chief Pleads Ignorance”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     “Who could believe that the head of a think tank doesn’t think?” said Charles Jacobs, the president of the Jewish Leadership Project, which resigned from a Heritage Foundation task force meant to fight antisemitism after Mr. [Kevin D.] Roberts’s video was released.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

2. (obsolete) The brain.
   • 1937, Madge Macbeth, Wings in the West, London: J. Hamilton, page 261:

     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 something about Hoppy Slade that you didn’t know before. Go to bed and sleep on that!”

派生語

参考

Further reading

• think tank on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

動詞

thinktank (third-person singular simple present thinktanks, present participle thinktanking, simple past and past participle thinktanked)

1. Alternative form of think-tank.
   • 1976, Grant Venn, Man, Education and Society, page 126:

     Each state should devote some resources and some joint efforts to ' 'thinktanking' ' the implications of change in society as it affects education and the role of the state.

   • 1992, George Ngwane, Fragments of Unity: (to Every Son and Daughter of the South West), page 22:

     SWELA may turn out to be an Intellectual Association where brainstorming and thinktanking are the rule of the day while mass implementation and task execution become the exception of the night.

   • 2011, Roberg Silverberg, The Ultimate Dinosaur, →ISBN:

     Today marks the beginning of a wonderful innovationary experiment in education, a whole new instructional dynamic in teaching paleontology. I'll be thinktanking with you dinosaur guys and gals next week, but until then I want you to think about one word."