hothouse

[ hot-hous ]

/ ˈhɒtˌhaʊs /

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

First recorded in 1505–15; hot + house

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
The princess and marvel had resolved herself again into the fairy of the hothouse.

The Side Of The Angels |Basil King

The decoration of the hothouse would now depend in a great measure upon Begonias, Euphorbias, Luculias, &c.

In-Door Gardening for Every Week in the Year |William Keane
But by far the most important and interesting crops here are the hothouse flowers.

In the Heart of Vosges |Matilda Betham-Edwards
Cover the pots with glass and stand them in the warmest part of a hothouse.

Gardening for the Million |Alfred Pink
I here observed the best crop and finest bunches of hothouse grapes that I had previously met with on the continent.

Journal of a Horticultural Tour through Germany, Belgium, and part of France, in the Autumn of 1835 |James Forbes

hothouse

/ (ˈhɒtˌhaʊs) /

a greenhouse in which the temperature is maintained at a fixed level above that of the surroundings
(as modifier)a hothouse plant

an environment where there is great pressure showjumping is a tough, hothouse world

(modifier) informal, often censorious sensitive or delicate a hothouse temperament