Definition of "breeding ground" []

• A place where animals breed. (noun)
• A place or set of circumstances that encourages the development of certain ideas or conditions: a laboratory that is a breeding ground for new inventions. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Asia in particular, to become a new hub or breeding ground for international terrorist networks such as al Qa’eda, particularly as these networks have come under pressure elsewhere."