dampen vs lessen

dampen

verb
  • To lessen; to dull; to make less intense (said of emotions and non-physical things). 

  • To become damped or deadened. 

  • To become damp or moist. 

  • To make damp or moist; to make moderately wet. 

lessen

verb
  • To make less; to diminish; to reduce. 

  • To become less. 

conj
  • unless. 

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