hothouse
- an artificially heated greenhouse for the cultivation of tender plants.
- of, relating to, or noting a plant grown in a hothouse, or so fragile as to be capable of being grown only in a hothouse.
- overprotected, artificial, or unnaturally delicate.
Origin of hothouse
Related Words for hothouse
bed, field, nursery, terrace, patio, greenhouse, plot, conservatory, patch, oasis, enclosure, hothouseExamples from the Web for hothouse
Contemporary Examples of hothouse
If Saudi Arabia is a hothouse flower, then Americans have helped build the greenhouse.
Hothouse by Boris Kachka A romp through the history of venerable publisher Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Outside the hothouse of that environment, he is making sense—though his is a message that many conservatives may not want to hear.
Historical Examples of hothouse
It is with the Hindu mind as if a seed were placed in a hothouse.
Chips From A German Workshop - Volume IFriedrich Max Mller
No; it is still the spirits' home—a hothouse for sickly plants.
The Sand-Hills of JutlandHans Christian Andersen
All the stock of hothouse and stove plants at Hartwell Priory.
A Dark Night's WorkElizabeth Gaskell
It is as hot as fire here, and the park has that steamy smell that a hothouse has.
The Heart of RachaelKathleen Norris
She always looked like a hothouse flower, and now she is simply frail.
The Blower of BubblesArthur Beverley Baxter
hothouse
- a greenhouse in which the temperature is maintained at a fixed level above that of the surroundings
- (as modifier)a hothouse plant
- an environment that encourages rapid development
- (as modifier)a hot-house atmosphere
- an environment where there is great pressureshowjumping is a tough, hothouse world
- (modifier) informal, often censorious sensitive or delicatea hothouse temperament