chronic
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
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continuing for a long time; constantly recurring
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(of a disease) developing slowly, or of long duration Compare acute
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inveterate; habitual
a chronic smoker
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informal
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very bad
the play was chronic
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very serious
he left her in a chronic condition
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Relating to an illness or medical condition that is characterized by long duration or frequent recurrence. Diabetes and hypertension are chronic diseases.
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Compare acute
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of chronic
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin chronicus, from Greek chronikós, equivalent to chrón(os) “time” + -ikos -ic
Explanation
If you smoke a cigarette once, you've simply made a bad choice. But if you're a chronic smoker, you've been smoking for a long time and will have a hard time stopping. The word chronic is used to describe things that occur over a long period of time and, in fact, comes from the Greek word for time, khronos. If you have chronic asthma, it is a recurring health issue for you. No one likes a chronic liar! A problem that cannot be solved can also be called chronic - think of the chronic food shortages in certain parts of the world.
Vocabulary lists containing chronic
List 2
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It's About Time: Chron and Temp
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100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The pooled analysis included 14,574 participants with both diabetic and non-diabetic chronic kidney disease.
From Science Daily • Jun. 8, 2026
The charity said rental housing was a "particularly difficult" area for its clients, along with a "chronic shortage of social housing".
From BBC • Jun. 6, 2026
“Now I talk to more people about chronic pain,” she said, “and if something doesn’t go the way I hoped, I just, quietly to myself, say ‘Ta Da!’”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026
Others worry about the invasiveness of a colonoscopy and undergoing anesthesia or are too sick with a chronic disease to be sedated.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 4, 2026
His most troubling conditions were a strangely recurrent viral pneumonia, chronic sinusitis, and the ulcerative colitis that had laid him low the weekend before his scheduled testimony against Oppenheimer.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
