CHRONIC


Meaning of CHRONIC in English

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.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.