barrier vs bulwark

barrier

noun
  • An obstacle or impediment. 

  • A separation between two areas of the body where specialized cells allow the entry of certain substances but prevent the entry of others. 

  • A martial exercise of the 15th and 16th centuries. 

  • The lists in a tournament. 

  • A structure that bars passage. 

  • A node (in government and binding theory) said to intervene between other nodes A and B if it is a potential governor for B, c-commands B, and does not c-command A. 

  • A boundary or limit. 

verb
  • To block or obstruct with a barrier. 

bulwark

noun
  • A defense or safeguard. 

  • A defensive wall or rampart. 

  • A breakwater. 

  • Any means of defence or security. 

  • The planking or plating along the sides of a nautical vessel above her gunwale that reduces the likelihood of seas washing over the gunwales and people being washed overboard. 

verb
  • To fortify something with a wall or rampart. 

  • To provide protection of defense for something. 

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