chronic

ENEnglish
//ˈkɹɒn.ɪk//(Received Pronunciation)

Direct German Translations & Equivalents:

Click any term below to jump straight to its full vocabulary entry in German:

Definitions & Usage

adjective
#1

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

Example: chronic unemployment; chronic poverty; chronic anger; chronic life
adjective
#2

(medicine) Prolonged or slow to heal.

Example: chronic cough; chronic headache; chronic illness
adjective
#3

Of a person, suffering from an affliction that is prolonged or slow to heal.

Example: Chronic patients must learn to live with their condition.
Translations:[DE]chronisch
adjective
#4

Inveterate or habitual.

Example: He's a chronic smoker.
adjective
#5

(slang) Very bad, awful.

Example: That concert was chronic.
adjective
#6

(informal) Extremely serious.

Example: They left him in a chronic condition.
adjective
#7

(slang) Good, great; "wicked".

Example: That was cool, chronic in fact.
noun
#8

(slang) Marijuana, typically of high quality.

noun
#9

(medicine) A condition of extended duration, either continuous or marked by frequent recurrence. Sometimes implies a condition which worsens with each recurrence, though that is not inherent in the term.

noun
#10

A person who is chronic, such as a criminal reoffender or a person with chronic disease.

Notable Literary & Historical Quotes

Peer group support is important to displaced homemakers. The Displaced Homemakers' Network has done excellent work in helping women see that their problems do not have to be chronic.

1980, Ruth Harriet Jacobs, Integrating Displaced Homemakers into the Economy, page 14:

It was a casual sneer, obviously one of a long line. There was hatred behind it, but of a quiet, chronic type, nothing new or unduly virulent, and he was taken aback by the flicker of amazed incredulity that passed over the younger man's ravaged face.

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 8, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

Chronic mismanagement in the dugout and in the boardroom has meant the scale of the job now is as big as it has ever been.

2018 May 4, Tom English, “Steven Gerrard: A 'seriously clever or recklessly stupid' Rangers appointment”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 13 Apr 2021:

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