hot spot

US: (hot′spot′)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

ˈhot ˌspot or ˈhotˌspot, n. [countable]

1. Government a country or region where dangerous or difficult political situations exist or may develop.
2. Informal Terms a place of lively activity.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

hot′ spot′, 

1. Government a country or region where dangerous or difficult political situations exist or may erupt, esp. where a war, revolution, or a belligerent attitude toward other countries exists or may develop:
   In the 1960s, Vietnam became a hot spot.
2. Informal Terms any area or place of known danger, intrigue, dissension, or instability.
3. Informal Terms a nightclub.
4. Photography an area of a negative or print revealing excessive light on that part of the subject.
5. a section of forest or woods where fires frequently occur.
6. an area hotter than the surrounding surface, as on the shell of a furnace.
7. Physics an area of abnormally high radioactivity.
8. Geology a region of molten rock below and within the lithosphere that persists long enough to leave a record of uplift and volcanic activity at the earth's surface. Cf. plume (def. 10).
9. Genetics a chromosome site or a section of DNA having a high frequency of mutation or recombination.
10. Veterinary Diseases a moist, raw sore on the skin of a dog or cat caused by constant licking of an irritation from an allergic reaction, tangled coat, fleas, etc.
Also, hot′spot′. 
• 1925–30, American.

hot-spot  (hot′spot′), v.t., -spot•ted, -spot•ting. 

1. to stop (a forest fire) at a hot spot.

• verb, verbal use of hot spot 1950–55

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

hot spot, hotspot / ˈhɒtˌspɒt/ noun

1. an area of potential violence or political unrest
2. a lively nightclub or other place of entertainment
3. an area of great activity of a specific type: the world's economic hot spots
4. any local area of high temperature in a part of an engine, etc
5. a place where wireless internet, esp broadband, services are provided to users of portable computers through a wireless local area network, such as in an airport, railway station, or library
6. a small area on the surface of or within a body with an exceptionally high concentration of radioactivity or of some chemical or mineral considered harmful
7. a similar area that generates an abnormal amount of heat, as revealed by thermography