hotbed
/ˈhɑtˌbɛd/
noun
- A place or situation where a particular activity, especially a negative one, is very common or develops quickly.
- The city was a hotbed of political unrest.
- That school is a hotbed of creativity and new ideas.
- The region became a hotbed for organized crime.
- A bed of heated soil or manure used for growing plants, especially seedlings, in a greenhouse.
- Seedlings grow faster in a hotbed than in open soil.
- The gardener prepared a hotbed for the early tomato plants.
- They used a hotbed to start the flowers before spring.