1. a heated greenhouse for growing plants
2. an environment that encourages rapid growth or development
Usage: figurative

1. artificially encouraged or accelerated in development

Examples

• The gardener grew exotic orchids in the hothouse during winter.
• The university became a hothouse for scientific innovation.
• She raised the seedlings in a hothouse before transplanting them outside.
• The startup incubator was a hothouse environment for new businesses.
• Critics dismissed him as a hothouse talent who couldn’t handle real pressure.
• The hothouse atmosphere of the elite prep school produced many successful graduates.
• Tomatoes grown in the hothouse were ready weeks earlier than outdoor crops.