hotbed vs state of affairs

hotbed and state of affairs both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
hotbed	Yes	No	No	No
state of affairs	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, state of affairs is a hypernym of hotbed; that is, state of affairs is a word with a broader meaning than hotbed:

hotbed: a situation that is ideal for rapid development (especially of something bad)
state of affairs: the general state of things; the combination of circumstances at a given time

Other hypernyms of hotbed include situation.

hotbed (noun)	state of affairs (noun)
a bed of earth covered with glass and heated by rotting manure to promote the growth of plants	the general state of things; the combination of circumstances at a given time
a situation that is ideal for rapid development (especially of something bad)