breeding ground
Americannoun
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a place where animals breed or to which they return to breed.
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an environment suitable for or fostering the development of an idea, thing, etc..
a breeding ground for violence.
Etymology
Origin of breeding ground
First recorded in 1930–35
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, posted to X on Wednesday that xAI's decision to "create and host a breeding ground for predators... is vile".
From BBC • Jan. 14, 2026
EDF then suggested a plan to flood 1,500 acres of nearby coast to create a salt marsh breeding ground to offset any fish death.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025
Scientists at the breeding ground on the Valdes Peninsula along Argentina's coast have determined that 97 percent of elephant seal pups died either from being abandoned or contracting bird flu in 2023.
From Barron's • Nov. 13, 2025
But it was in fact a breeding ground of artistic ferment, in which creatives grappled with what Elie calls crypto-religion, that “liminal space between belief and disbelief” that produced a wealth of thought-provoking popular art.
From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2025
Another bonanza was the development of world trade routes, which by Roman times effectively joined the populations of Europe, Asia, and North Africa into one giant breeding ground for microbes.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
