do tank

n.

A research institute that focuses on actions rather than ideas. Also: do-tank.

Example Citation:

Like Elihu Root (1912), the first president of the Carnegie Endowment for Intertational Peace, [Jimmy] Carter heads a "non-governmental organization." (But while Carnegie is a think tank, the Carter Center is more of a do tank.)

— Hendrik Hertzberg, "He's no. 19," The New Yorker, October 28, 2002

Earliest Citation:

Midwest Research now ranks as one of the top not-for-profit private research facilities in the country. There are larger research institutes, but few with the growth record of MRI. Revenue for this year is expected to exceed $46 million, twice what it was just three years ago.

A science journal recently labeled MRI "a small think tank in the Midwest." Not so, says Harold M. Hubbard, MRI vice president for research. "We're a 'do-tank,' not a 'think tank."

— Scott Kraft, "Washington Dateline," The Associated Press, November 18, 1979

Notes:

Do tank is the action-oriented version of a think tank (a term that dates to 1959). A not-so-surprising synonym is action tank (1987).

Related Words:

do-ocracy

panda-hugger

Category:

Companies