hothouse
hothouse — noun
- hothousesingular
- hothousesplural
1. a warm glass building where delicate plants like orchids or tomatoes are kept so
a warm glass building where delicate plants like orchids or tomatoes are kept so they keep growing through winter or other harsh weather.
Apinya grows rare orchids in a small hothouse behind her cottage.
typical context: a hothouse for delicate or tropical plants
The botanical garden's main hothouse stays at 28 degrees all year.
collocation: in / inside the hothouse
Frost killed the seedlings outside, but the ones in the hothouse survived.
Christopher carried trays of young tomato plants out to the heated hothouse each morning.
The old Victorian hothouse on the estate still smells of damp soil and warm glass.
- greenhouse
more general; not necessarily heated
- glasshouse
British English; structurally similar but emphasizes the glass walls rather than warmth
- conservatory
usually attached to a house and used as much for sitting as for growing plants
用法筆記
Often interchangeable with 'greenhouse', but a hothouse is specifically heated to a high temperature, whereas a greenhouse may simply trap sunlight without extra heating.
常見錯誤
2. a school, programme, or setting where young people are pushed to learn skills or
a school, programme, or setting where young people are pushed to learn skills or ideas much faster than children their age usually would.
The music school became a hothouse for young pianists from across Eastern Europe.
collocation: a hothouse for [type of learner]
Yumi's parents sent her to a maths hothouse every weekend from the age of six.
Critics worry that turning every primary school into a hothouse will exhaust the children.
The summer academy is a hothouse where teenage chess players train ten hours a day.
- pressure cooker
stronger; emphasizes stress rather than learning
- academy
more neutral; no implication that the pace is excessive
文法句型
a hothouse for / of [skill]
用法筆記
Often used with a faintly disapproving tone, suggesting the pace is unhealthy or unnatural for the age group. Compare with sense 1 — the metaphor draws on how a hothouse forces plants to grow faster than nature allows.
常見錯誤
3. a place where one specific activity, especially gossip, political plotting, or c
a place where one specific activity, especially gossip, political plotting, or creative work, happens at an unusually intense level.
The newsroom was a hothouse of rumour the week before the election.
collocation: a hothouse of [activity, often abstract noun]
In the 1920s, Paris became a hothouse of literary experimentation.
The royal court was always a hothouse of intrigue and shifting loyalties.
Baraka described the small village as a hothouse of gossip where no secret lasted a day.
- hotbed
very close in meaning; slightly more common in everyday writing
- breeding ground
usually negative; implies something unwanted is growing
文法句型
a hothouse of [activity]
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 2 by the focus: sense 2 is about people learning faster than normal; sense 3 is about a specific activity (gossip, intrigue, creativity) occurring at high intensity in one place.
hothouse — adjective
- hothousepositive
- more hothousecomparative
- most hothousesuperlative
1. (of flowers, fruit, or vegetables) raised inside a heated glass building rather
(of flowers, fruit, or vegetables) raised inside a heated glass building rather than out in the open field.
Caleb arranged a bouquet of hothouse roses for his sister's wedding in January.
typical use: before a flower or fruit noun
Hothouse tomatoes are available all winter but rarely taste as sweet as summer ones.
collocation: hothouse tomatoes / cucumbers / strawberries
The chef refused to use hothouse strawberries and waited until June for the field crop.
A vase of pale hothouse lilies stood on the hotel's reception desk all year round.
- greenhouse-grown
more descriptive; same meaning but less concise
- glasshouse
British English equivalent, used attributively in the same way
- field-grown
grown outdoors in open ground
- outdoor
general antonym
用法筆記
Almost always used before the noun (attributive position). You would not normally say 'these roses are hothouse'; instead say 'these are hothouse roses' or 'these roses were grown in a hothouse'.
常見錯誤
2. describing someone or something that has grown up in a sheltered, intense settin
describing someone or something that has grown up in a sheltered, intense setting and may therefore be delicate or unable to cope with the wider world.
Critics called the young violinist a hothouse talent who would burn out before twenty.
common pairing: a hothouse talent / a hothouse upbringing
Maja regretted her hothouse childhood, where every hour was filled with lessons and tutors.
The novel describes a hothouse atmosphere inside the old boarding school, full of secrets and pressure.
Many child stars come from a hothouse environment that ordinary teenagers would find suffocating.
- down-to-earth
raised in ordinary conditions
用法筆記
Carries a clearly negative tone, even when describing apparent success. The metaphor implies fragility — that what flourished in protected conditions will struggle in normal ones.
hothouse — verb
- hothousepresent simple I / you / we / they
- hothouses3rd person singular
- hothousing-ing form
- hothousedpast simple
1. to push a child through unusually intense extra lessons or training in one subje
to push a child through unusually intense extra lessons or training in one subject so that they excel at it earlier than peers of the same age.
Anjali's parents hothoused her in mathematics from the age of four.
pattern: hothouse + somebody + in + subject
Some coaches openly hothouse young swimmers in the hope of reaching the Olympics.
typical subject: parents, coaches, ambitious schools
João refused to hothouse his daughter and let her pick her own hobbies instead.
Many gifted children are hothoused so early that they lose interest in their subject by adolescence.
文法句型
hothouse + somebody (+ in + something)
用法筆記
Almost always used with disapproval. Subject is typically a parent, coach, or institution; object is a child or young person. Often appears in the passive ('be hothoused'). Distinguish from neutral verbs like 'tutor' or 'coach', which do not carry the same implication of excess.