Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun hotbed

2 senses of hotbed

Sense 1
hotbed -- (a situation that is ideal for rapid development (especially of something bad); "it was a hotbed of vice")
       => situation, state of affairs -- (the general state of things; the combination of circumstances at a given time; "the present international situation is dangerous"; "wondered how such a state of affairs had come about"; "eternal truths will be neither true nor eternal unless they have fresh meaning for every new social situation"- Franklin D.Roosevelt)

Sense 2
hotbed -- (a bed of earth covered with glass and heated by rotting manure to promote the growth of plants)
       => bed -- (a plot of ground in which plants are growing; "the gardener planted a bed of roses")