hotbed

/ˈhɒtbed/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈhɑːtbed/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈhät-ˌbed/ (ame, mw)

hotbed — 名詞

1. a place or group where some kind of activity, usually a harmful or troubling one

1.名詞C1
釋義

溫床

助長某活動或現象快速滋生的地方

a place or group where some kind of activity, usually a harmful or troubling one, grows quickly and spreads widely

例句

The old port district became a hotbed of smuggling during the war.

戰時，那個舊港區成了走私活動的溫床。

pattern: hotbed of + activity noun

Tendai warned that the unregulated forum was turning into a hotbed of misinformation.

Tendai 警告，那個沒人管理的論壇正逐漸變成假消息的溫床。

common collocate: hotbed of misinformation / extremism

同義詞
  • breeding ground

    very close in meaning; slightly more common in everyday journalism

  • hub

    neutral or positive; lacks the warning tone of 'hotbed'

  • haven

    suggests a safe place that shelters the activity, often illegal

文法句型

hotbed of + noun

a hotbed for + noun

用法筆記

Almost always followed by 'of' (or sometimes 'for') plus a noun naming the activity. Subject is typically a place, institution, or group — not a single person. Carries a critical or warning tone when the activity is negative.

常見錯誤

❌The city is a hotbed.
✅The city is a hotbed of crime.
💡'hotbed' nearly always needs 'of + noun' to say what is growing there.
❌He is a hotbed of new ideas.
✅His lab is a hotbed of new ideas.
💡the subject should be a place or group, not an individual person.

2. a small garden frame, glass-topped and warmed from underneath, that gardeners us

2.名詞C2
釋義

苗床

蓋玻璃且加熱、用於育苗的小型菜畦

a small garden frame, glass-topped and warmed from underneath, that gardeners use to give young plants an early start in spring

例句

Camila grows her tomato seedlings in a hotbed near the kitchen window.

Camila 把番茄幼苗種在廚房窗邊的苗床裡。

pattern: grow / start [plants] in a hotbed

The old farmer built a small wooden hotbed at the edge of the vegetable patch.

那位老農夫在菜園邊角搭了一個小小的木製苗床。

同義詞
  • cold frame

    similar small glass-covered structure, but unheated

  • seedbed

    any bed used for starting seedlings; not necessarily heated or covered

文法句型

in a hotbed

build a hotbed

用法筆記

A specialist gardening term, rarely used in everyday speech. Distinguish from sense 1 by context: sense 2 always refers to a physical structure in a garden, while sense 1 is metaphorical.

常見錯誤

❌I keep my flowers warm in a greenhouse, also called a hotbed.
✅I keep my flowers warm in a greenhouse; a hotbed is a much smaller, soil-filled frame.
💡a hotbed is not the same as a greenhouse.