- a variation of cronic.
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
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.
Necropsies found chronic inflammatory disease in the gastrointestinal systems in Peekachu and Rain.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
His laboratory is now investigating whether the same approach could help treat endometriosis, a chronic inflammatory condition affecting approximately one in 10 women.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
The rate of chronic absenteeism was 18.3% of students, approaching 1 in 5 students — an improvement of 1.1 percentage points.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
Anderson specialises in challenging UTI cases, and is leading a group of medical experts to develop a medical definition of chronic UTIs to differentiate it from other conditions.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
This complaint was an outgrowth of the lab’s chronic shortcoming: the lack of time for basic scientific experimentation.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
