chronic

chronic
    adj 1: being long-lasting and recurrent or characterized by long
           suffering; "chronic indigestion"; "a chronic shortage of
           funds"; "a chronic invalid" [ant: {acute}]
    2: of long duration; "chronic money problems" [syn: {chronic},
       {continuing}]
    3: habitual; "a chronic smoker" [syn: {chronic}, {inveterate}]
    

Chronic \Chron"ic\, a. [L. chronicus, Gr. ? concerning time,
   from ? time: cf. F. chronique.]
   1. Relating to time; according to time.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Continuing for a long time; lingering; habitual.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Chronic disease}, one which is inveterate, of long
      continuance, or progresses slowly, in distinction from an
      acute disease, which speedly terminates.
      [1913 Webster]
    

73 Moby Thesaurus words for "chronic":
      abiding, accepted, accustomed, age-long, aged, ancient, antique,
      confirmed, constant, continuing, customary, deep-dyed, deep-fixed,
      deep-rooted, deep-seated, deep-set, deep-settled, diuturnal,
      durable, dyed-in-the-wool, enduring, established, evergreen, fast,
      fixed, habitual, habituated, hardened, hardy, immutable, implanted,
      incorrigible, inculcated, infixed, ingrained, instilled,
      intransient, inveterate, irreversible, lasting, lingering,
      long-established, long-lasting, long-lived, long-standing,
      long-term, longeval, longevous, macrobiotic, of long duration,
      of long standing, perdurable, perduring, perennial, permanent,
      perpetual, persistent, persisting, remaining, rooted, routine,
      sempervirent, set, settled, settled in habit, stable, staying,
      steadfast, thorough, tough, unfading, vital, wonted