Word Study
hotbed
CIDE DICTIONARY
hotbed, n.
- A bed of earth heated by fermenting manure or other substances, and covered with glass, intended for raising early plants, or for nourishing exotics. [1913 Webster]
- A place which favors rapid growth or development; as, a hotbed of sedition. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
hotbed, n.
1 a bed of earth heated by fermenting manure.
2 (foll. by of) an environment promoting the growth of something, esp. something unwelcome (hotbed of vice).
1 a bed of earth heated by fermenting manure.
2 (foll. by of) an environment promoting the growth of something, esp. something unwelcome (hotbed of vice).
THESAURUS
hotbed
Hydra, birthplace, breeding place, brooder, cloche, cold frame, conservatory, coolhouse, cradle, forcing, forcing bed, forcing house, forcing pit, glasshouse, greenhouse, hatchery, hothouse, incubator, lathhouse, milk cow, mustard, nest, nidus, nursery, orangery, pinery, rabbit, rich soil, rookery, seed plot, seedbed, summerhouse, warrenROGET THESAURUS
hotbed
Workshop
N workshop, workhouse, workplace, shop, place of business, manufactory, mill, plant, works, factory, cabinet, studio, office, branch office bureau, atelier, hive, hive of industry, nursery, hothouse, hotbed, kitchen, mint, forge, loom, dock, dockyard, alveary, armory, laboratory, lab, research institute, refinery, cannery, power plant, beauty parlor, beehive, bindery, forcing pit, nailery, usine, slip, yard, wharf, foundry, foundery, furnace, vineyard, crucible, alembic, caldron, matrix, at work, at the office, at the shop, working.Cause
N cause, origin, source, principle, element, occasioner, prime mover, primum mobile, vera causa, author, mainspring, agent, leaven, groundwork, foundation, spring, fountain, well, font, fountainhead, spring head, wellhead, fons et origo, genesis, descent, remote cause, influence, pivot, hinge, turning point, lever, crux, fulcrum, key, proximate cause, causa causans, straw that breaks the camel's back, ground, reason, reason why, why and wherefore, rationale, occasion, derivation, final cause, les dessous des cartes, undercurrents, rudiment, egg, germ, embryo, bud, root, radix radical, etymon, nucleus, seed, stem, stock, stirps, trunk, tap-root, gemmule, radicle, semen, sperm, nest, cradle, nursery, womb, nidus, birthplace, hotbed, causality, causation, origination, production, caused, causal, original, primary, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, protogenal, radical, embryonic, embryotic, in embryo, in ovo, seminal, germinal, at the bottom of, connate, having a common origin, because, behind the scenes, causa latet vis est notissima, felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.Centrality
N centrality, centricalness, center, middle, focus, core, kernel, nucleus, nucleolus, heart, pole axis, bull's eye, nave, navel, umbilicus, backbone, marrow, pith, vertebra, vertebral column, hotbed, concentration, centralization, symmetry, center of gravity, center of pressure, center of percussion, center of oscillation, center of buoyancy, metacenter, central, centrical, middle, azygous, axial, focal, umbilical, concentric, middlemost, rachidian, spinal, vertebral, middle, midst, centrally.For further exploring for "hotbed" in Webster Dictionary Online