chronic

Word family

1 MILONG TIMEa chronic disease or illness is one that continues for a long time and cannot be cured 〔疾病〕慢性的，长期的 → acute

chronic arthritis

慢性关节炎

chronic asthma

慢性哮喘

chronic heart disease

慢性心脏病

2 SERIOUS SITUATIONa chronic problem is one that continues for a long time and cannot easily be solved 〔问题〕长期的

chronic unemployment

长期的失业问题

There is a chronic shortage of teachers.

长期存在师资短缺的问题。

3 chronic alcoholic/gambler etc LONG TIMEsomeone who has behaved in a particular way for a long time and cannot stop 长期酗酒/沉迷赌博等的人

He was a chronic alcoholic and unable to hold down a job.

他长期酗酒，任何工作都做不久。

a chronic smoker

老烟民

Examples from the Corpus

chronic alcoholic/gambler etc• The sleep patterns of chronic alcoholics are usually quite abnormal.• Even after chronic alcoholics give up booze, their sleep problems may not end.• All the results found in studies on non-alcoholic subjects may not hold true for chronic alcoholic patients.• Clearly a study needs to be done with chronic alcoholic patients.• There are no studies on the acute effect of alcohol intake on gastric acid secretion in chronic alcoholic patients.

4 BAD British EnglishBrE informal extremely bad 恶劣的；糟透的

The food was absolutely chronic!

这食物实在糟透了！

—chronically /-kli/ adverbadv

patients who are chronically ill

患慢性病的病人

The service is chronically underfunded.

这个服务机构长期资金不足。

Examples from the Corpus

chronic• He suffers from chronic asthma.• No data exist for outcome of the untreated chronic condition followed for more than five years.• the chronic decay of the inner city areas• We need to take steps to counter the chronic decline in our export market.• In the chronic disease eggs are present and L3 can be identified following faecal culture.• Steen suffers from chronic high blood pressure.• Older people can quickly become dispirited and depressed by chronic illness.• Her injuries have left her with chronic migraine headaches, seizures, insomnia, nausea and short-term memory loss.• Some of these patients benefit from referral to a chronic pain center.• It brought to light chronic problems with staff and aging equipment.• China has a chronic shortage of capital, so it must encourage saving.• chronic unemployment• In women, chronic use of alcohol reduces vaginal response, and it can cause irregular menstruation and induce premature menopause.• California is trying to cope with chronic water shortages.

Origin chronic

(1400-1500) French chronique, from Greek chronikos “of time”, from chronos; CHRON-

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus