terreno di coltura

Italian

Etymology

Literally, “ground of culture”.

Noun

terreno di coltura m (plural terreni di coltura)

1. (biology) culture medium
2. (figurative, by extension) breeding ground
   • 2020, Barack Obama, chapter 26, in Chicca Galli, Paolo Lucca, Giuseppe Maugeri, transl., Una terra promessa [A Promised Land], Garzanti Libri:

     ... oltre all'imperativo morale di evitare atrocità di massa, era nell'interesse di entrambi, russi e americani assicurarsi che le rivolte non sfociassero in una guerra civile prolungata, altrimenti la Libia sarebbe diventata terreno di coltura del terrorismo.

     ... beyond the moral imperatives of preventing a mass atrocity, it was in both Russia's and America's interests to make sure that we didn't see a prolonged civil war in Libya, as the country could then become a breeding ground for terrorism.

     (literally, “... beyond the moral imperative to avoid mass atrocity, it was in the interest of both Russians and Americans to make sure that the revolts did not boil over into a prolonged civil war, otherwise Libya would then have become a breeding ground for terrorism.”)