1
: a bed of soil enclosed in glass, heated especially by fermenting manure, and used for forcing or for raising seedlings
2
: an environment that favors rapid growth or development
a hotbed of activity
Examples of hotbed in a Sentence
a hotbed of political unrest
prerevolutionary Boston was viewed as a hotbed of treason by the British
Recent Examples on the Web
The Dallas area was a hotbed of competitive debate, and, at first, the oratorical polish of Kuang’s teammates was intimidating.
—
Hua Hsu, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2025
This is wine country, and most visitors are here for the grapes and the food, but a two-mile stretch of the Russian River from Steelhead Beach to Sunset Beach has become a hotbed of floating during the summer months.
—Graham Averill, Outside, 11 Aug. 2025
In the years since, our neighbor to the north has become a hotbed for the development of timber towers — tall buildings that use relatively new mass timber technologies that can replace the steel and concrete traditionally used to support such structures.
—Edward Keegan, Chicago Tribune, 27 July 2025
The app currently has about 20,000 users, many who live in Los Angeles, the nation's second most populous city and one of the hotbeds of Trump's mass deportations of immigrants in the country illegally.
—Joey Garrison, USA Today, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for hotbed
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Hua Hsu, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2025
This is wine country, and most visitors are here for the grapes and the food, but a two-mile stretch of the Russian River from Steelhead Beach to Sunset Beach has become a hotbed of floating during the summer months.
—Graham Averill, Outside, 11 Aug. 2025
In the years since, our neighbor to the north has become a hotbed for the development of timber towers — tall buildings that use relatively new mass timber technologies that can replace the steel and concrete traditionally used to support such structures.
—Edward Keegan, Chicago Tribune, 27 July 2025
The app currently has about 20,000 users, many who live in Los Angeles, the nation's second most populous city and one of the hotbeds of Trump's mass deportations of immigrants in the country illegally.
—Joey Garrison, USA Today, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for hotbed
Cite this Entry
“Hotbed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hotbed. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
hotbed
noun
hot·bed
ˈhät-ˌbed 
1
: a heated bed of soil enclosed in glass and used for growing seedlings
2
: an environment that favors rapid growth or development
a hotbed of innovation
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share