Home / Dictionary / Chronic

Chronic Very Common

Chronic has 5 different meanings across 1 category:

Adjective

Definitions
Noun
1

Marijuana, typically of high quality.

"The dealer handed me a gram of chronic that made my eyes roll back in my head for an hour."

In plain English: A chronic condition is a medical problem that lasts for a long time and does not go away quickly.

"The doctor diagnosed him with chronic fatigue syndrome after examining his long-term symptoms."

Usage: Chronic is not used as a noun to refer to marijuana in standard English; that specific colloquial usage is non-standard and should be avoided. Instead, use the adjective chronic exclusively to describe conditions or issues that persist for a long time.

Adjective
1

being long-lasting and recurrent or characterized by long suffering

"chronic indigestion"

"a chronic shortage of funds"

"a chronic invalid"

2

of long duration

"chronic money problems"

3

habitual

"a chronic smoker"

4

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

"The chronic back pain made it difficult for him to keep up with his daily workout routine."

In plain English: Chronic means something that lasts for a long time and keeps coming back.

"The patient has been suffering from chronic back pain for several years."

Usage: Use "chronic" to describe conditions or issues that persist for a long duration, such as chronic pain or chronic fatigue. Avoid using it simply to mean "bad" or "severe," as those are distinct concepts.

Example Sentences
"The patient has been suffering from chronic back pain for several years." adj
"His chronic back pain keeps him from playing sports regularly." adj
"The restaurant has a chronic problem with slow service during lunch hours." adj
"She developed a chronic habit of checking her phone every five minutes." adj
"The doctor diagnosed him with chronic fatigue syndrome after examining his long-term symptoms." noun
Related Terms
chronicity nortriptyline carphenazine hypertransfusion botryomycosis pyrovalerone pancreatojejunostomy pulmonary emphysema peginesatide amyotrophic lateral sclerosis periodontosis inveterate antimineralocorticoid gulf war syndrome pyorrhea methadone serious alcoholism bejel acromegaly
Antonyms
acute

Origin

The word "chronic" comes from the Ancient Greek khronikos, meaning "of time," which entered English via Old French and Latin. It originally described anything related to time before coming to mean a long-lasting or persistent condition in medicine.

Rhyming Words
nic danic zanic kinic sinic panic vinic yonic eonic tunic punic xenic ionic sonic monic manic nonic cynic conic genic
Compare
Chronic vs