chron ‧ ic /ˈkrɒnɪk $ ˈkrɑː-/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: French ; Origin: chronique , from Greek chronikos 'of time' , from chronos ; CHRON- ]
1 . a chronic disease or illness is one that continues for a long time and cannot be cured ⇨ acute :
chronic arthritis
chronic asthma
chronic heart disease
2 . a chronic problem is one that continues for a long time and cannot easily be solved:
chronic unemployment
There is a chronic shortage of teachers.
3 . chronic alcoholic/gambler etc someone who has behaved in a particular way for a long time and cannot stop:
He was a chronic alcoholic and unable to hold down a job.
a chronic smoker
4 . British English informal extremely bad:
The food was absolutely chronic!
—chronically /-kli/ adverb :
patients who are chronically ill
The service is chronically underfunded.