acerbate vs goad

acerbate

verb
  • To exasperate; to irritate. 

  • To make bitter or sour. 

adj
  • Embittered; having a sour disposition or nature. 

goad

verb
  • To incite or provoke. 

  • To encourage or stimulate. 

  • To prod with a goad. 

noun
  • That which goads or incites; a stimulus. 

  • A long, pointed stick used to prod animals. 

How often have the words acerbate and goad occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )