brawl vs contend

brawl

verb
  • To engage in a brawl; to fight or quarrel. 

  • To create a disturbance; to complain loudly. 

  • To pour abuse on; to scold. 

  • Especially of a rapid stream running over stones: to make a loud, confused noise. 

noun
  • A disorderly argument or fight, usually with a large number of people involved. 

contend

verb
  • To be in debate; to engage in discussion; to dispute; to argue. 

  • To be in opposition; to contest; to dispute; to vie; to quarrel; to fight. 

  • To believe (something is reasonable) and argue (for it); to advocate. 

  • To struggle or exert oneself to obtain or retain possession of, or to defend. 

  • contend with: To try to cope with a difficulty or problem. 

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