Fromchronical, fromOld Frenchcronike, fromLatinchronicus, fromAncient Greekχρονικός(khronikós,“of time”), fromχρόνος(khrónos,“time”).
chronic (comparativemorechronic,superlativemostchronic)
- Of a problem, that continues over an extended period of time.
chronic unemployment;chronic poverty;chronic anger;chronic life
1980, Ruth Harriet Jacobs,Integrating Displaced Homemakers into the Economy, page14:Peer group support is important to displaced homemakers. The Displaced Homemakers' Network has done excellent work in helping women see that their problems do not have to bechronic.
1963,Margery Allingham, chapter 8, inThe China Governess: A Mystery, London:Chatto & Windus,→OCLC:It was a casual sneer, obviously one of a long line. There was hatred behind it, but of a quiet,chronic type, nothing new or unduly virulent, and he was taken aback by the flicker of amazed incredulity that passed over the younger man's ravaged face.
2018 May 4, Tom English, “Steven Gerrard: A 'seriously clever or recklessly stupid' Rangers appointment”, inBBC Sport[1]:Chronic mismanagement in the dugout and in the boardroom has meant the scale of the job now is as big as it has ever been.
- (medicine) Prolonged or slow to heal.
chronic cough;chronic headache;chronic illness
- Of a person,suffering from an affliction that is prolonged or slow to heal.
Chronic patients must learn to live with their condition.
- Inveterate orhabitual.
He's achronic smoker.
- (slang) Verybad,awful.
That concert waschronic.
- (informal) Extremelyserious.
They left him in achronic condition.
- (slang) Good, great; "wicked".
That was cool,chronic in fact.
that continues over an extended period of time
medical: prolonged or slow to heal
suffering from an affliction that is prolonged or slow to heal
chronic (countable anduncountable,pluralchronics)
- (slang)Marijuana, typically of high quality.
- Synonyms:seeThesaurus:marijuana
2006, Noire[pseudonym],Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.:One World,Ballantine Books,→ISBN,page103:Pimp had been kicking it with one of the young jawns hanging around the apartment. She was real young and had bumpy skin and slum rings on every finger. She told us she was living next door with her grandmother while her mother was in jail, and she took us up to the roof to smoke somechronic.
- (medicine) A condition of extended duration, either continuous or marked by frequent recurrence. Sometimes implies a condition which worsens with each recurrence, though that is notinherent in the term.
- A person who is chronic, such as a criminal reoffender or a person with chronic disease.
1895,Report of the Committee on Lunacy to the Board of Public Charities of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, page 9:Wernersvill asylum is now practically filled, and, as it is peopled with able-bodiedchronics, there will be but little annual movement of patients.
2001, Elizabeth Wright,A Brief Study Course in Homoeopathy,→ISBN, page79:And then there were thechronics, not only those with marked pathology but life-long sufferers from "indigestion" or migraine, who had been passed around from doctor to doctor with nothing but temporary relief.
2003, Philip Bean,Crime: Critical Concepts in Sociology, page376:Of fifty-five boys scoring four or more, fifteen were chronic offenders (out of twenty-threechronics altogether)[…]
2003, Lawrence W. Farris,Ten Commandments for Pastors New to a Congregation,→ISBN, page59:Most congregations are full of wonderful people, but thesechronics are also present in many churches. They come in three varieties -- the chronic havers of personal problems, the chronic complainers, and the chronic workaholics.
2006, Eva Pattis Zoja,Abortion: Loss and Renewal in the Search for Identity,→ISBN, page18:An Italian study (Francescato et al. 1979), which compared 137 women who had had more than one abortion with others who had aborted only once, revealed that the use of contraceptives was higher among the 'chronics', and that the contraceptives they employed were generally safer.
chronic (not comparable)
- chronic
