hothouse

[ hot-hous ]

/ ˈhɒtˌhaʊs /

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noun, plural hot·hous·es

[hot-hou-ziz]. /ˈhɒtˌhaʊ zɪz/.

an artificially heated greenhouse for the cultivation of tender plants.

adjective

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.

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Origin of hothouse

First recorded in 1505–15; hot + house

Words nearby hothouse

hot flush, hotfoot, hotfoot it, hothead, hotheaded, hothouse, hothouse lamb, Hotien, hot Jupiter, hotkey, hot lick

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use hothouse in a sentence

It’s at a level not seen since millions of years ago when the Earth was a hothouse ocean-inundated planet, as the Associated Press put it.
Slow Border Crossings Mean High Emissions at a Bad Time for the Planet|MacKenzie Elmer|June 7, 2022|Voice of San Diego
Meanwhile, our CO2 level is between the Pliocene and the Miocene of 10 million years ago, and we risk an Eocene hothouse not seen in 40 million years.
How will our warming climate stabilize? Scientists look to the distant past|Ars Contributors|December 20, 2021|Ars Technica
I was thrust into an intellectual hothouse of blackboard discussions, and seminars that would always go way over the allotted time that helped me momentarily forget why I was there.
How I Escaped My Troubles Through Science - Issue 104: Harmony|Subodh Patil|August 25, 2021|Nautilus
He added that those stars from Hollywood's Golden Age would not have "survived" in the hothouse-fame environment of today.
Clooney: A Constant Charmer at the Altar|Tim Teeman|September 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST

If Saudi Arabia is a hothouse flower, then Americans have helped build the greenhouse.
Will Saudi Arabia Execute Guest Workers for 'Witchcraft'?|Michael Schulson|March 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Hothouse by Boris Kachka A romp through the history of venerable publisher Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
This Week’s Hot Reads: August 5, 2013|Nicholas Mancusi|August 5, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Outside the hothouse of that environment, he is making sense—though his is a message that many conservatives may not want to hear.
Newt Gingrich Faces Reality, Admits Conservatives Were Out of Touch|Howard Kurtz|March 5, 2013|DAILY BEAST
And Mitt, obviously rattled by the Gingrich “surge,” seemed like a delicate hothouse flower.
Newt Gingrich Fends Off Tough Questions During CNN South Carolina Debate|Lloyd Grove|January 20, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Honorine has her little house, a garden, and a splendid hothouse, for a rent of five hundred francs a year.
Honorine|Honore de Balzac
"He is a very precious hothouse flower," said Dennis sarcastically.
The Varmint|Owen Johnson
He is engaged in growing and wholesale shipping of hothouse and garden vegetables.
Lyman's History of old Walla Walla County, Vol. 2 (of 2)|William Denison Lyman
Of course these were not fragrant like hothouse violets, but they had quite as beautiful a color.
Living on a Little|Caroline French Benton
She slept a great deal, and was fed constantly and her crystal palace was like a little hothouse.
The Incubator Baby|Ellis Parker Butler

British Dictionary definitions for hothouse

hothouse

/ (ˈhɒtˌhaʊs) /

noun

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

hothouse

Origin of hothouse

Words nearby hothouse

Words related to hothouse

How to use hothouse in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for hothouse