aggravation vs plague

aggravation

noun
  • Provocation, irritation, annoyance. 

  • An extrinsic circumstance or accident which increases the guilt of a crime or the misery of a calamity. 

  • The act of aggravating, or making worse; used of evils, natural or moral; the act of increasing in severity or heinousness; something additional to a crime or wrong and enhancing its guilt or injurious consequences. 

  • Exaggerated representation. 

plague

noun
  • A grave nuisance, whatever greatly irritates. 

  • A group of common grackles. 

  • A widespread affliction, calamity or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution. 

  • The bubonic plague, the pestilent disease caused by the virulent bacterium Yersinia pestis. 

  • An epidemic or pandemic caused by any pestilence, but specifically by the above disease. 

verb
  • To harass, pester or annoy someone persistently or incessantly. 

  • To afflict with a disease or other calamity. 

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