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I try to translate this phrase into another language, and I am confused. Is this an idiomatic expression which refers to enthusiasm or abundance? This is the name of a chapter in a book that I am working on: "The seething breeding glioma"

I also see these sentences when I google it:

It's a seething breeding ground for art thieves

Latin American countries as a seething breeding ground of violence have been widespread

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Have you tried to look up each word individually? – simchona♦ Sep 13 '11 at 3:16
@simchona, yes I did! It seems to me that these words may have different meaning together! That the reason why I am asking about it. Is this an idiomatic phrase? – kiraz Sep 13 '11 at 3:20
The name of the chapter you cite--are you reading it, or did you write it? – simchona♦ Sep 13 '11 at 3:25
The author wrote it, and I am trying to translate it, so I did not write. (I edited my question, sorry for the confusion) – kiraz Sep 13 '11 at 3:27

1 Answer

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"Seething breeding" is not an idiom, although you can find the two words together on occasion. I think the problem you may be having is in parsing the words next to seething breeding. In the two examples you cited, the noun is a breeding ground, and then that noun is in turn seething. To bracket it simply, it is:

[seething [breeding [ground]]]

A breeding ground is:

A place or set of circumstances that encourages the development of certain ideas or conditions

So a seething breeding ground is a breeding ground which is in a state of excitement or agitation.

Now, I am not in the medical field so I am fairly uneducated in what a glioma is. Having looked it up, I am aware that it is a type of tumor. I believe that the same brackets can apply to help parse the phrase:

[seething [breeding [glioma]]]

That is, the glioma itself breeds (probably by spreading through the body, creating other tumors). So it is a breeding glioma. This "breeding glioma" is also in a state of agitation, or it is seething--thus, it is a seething breeding glioma.

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@thank you, now I understand. At least, I know that I am not doing something wrong. – kiraz Sep 13 '11 at 3:37

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