English

Alternative forms

• chronick (obsolete)

Adjective

chronic ‎(comparative more chronic, superlative most chronic)

1. Of a problem, that continues over an extended period of time.

   chronic unemployment; chronic poverty; chronic anger‎

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 8, in The China Governess:

     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.

2. (medicine) Prolonged or slow to heal.

   chronic cough; chronic headache; chronic illness‎

3. Of a person, suffering from an affliction that is prolonged or slow to heal.

   Chronic patients must learn to live with their condition.‎

4. Inveterate or habitual.

   He's a chronic smoker.‎

5. (slang) Very bad, awful.

   That concert was chronic.‎

6. (informal) Extremely serious.

   They left him in a chronic condition.‎

7. (slang) Good, great, as in "wicked".

   That was cool, chronic in fact.‎

Antonyms

• (prolonged or slow to heal): acute

Translations

Noun

chronic ‎(countable and uncountable, plural chronics)

1. (slang) Marijuana, typically of high quality.
2. (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 not inherent in the term.
3. A person who is chronic, such as a criminal reoffender or a person with chronic disease.
   • 2003, Philip Bean, Crime: Critical Concepts in Sociology (page 376)

     Of fifty-five boys scoring four or more, fifteen were chronic offenders (out of twenty-three chronics altogether) […]

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:marijuana

References

• chronic in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “chronic” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).