dead-end vs falter

dead-end

verb
  • To come to a dead-end. 

noun
  • A road with no exit. 

  • A position that offers no hope of progress. 

adj
  • Going nowhere; blocked. 

falter

verb
  • To stumble. 

  • To fail in distinctness or regularity of exercise; said of the mind or of thought. 

  • To hesitate in purpose or action. 

  • To cleanse or sift, as barley. 

  • To waver or be unsteady; to weaken or trail off. 

  • To stammer; to utter with hesitation, or in a weak and trembling manner. 

  • To lose faith or vigor; to doubt or abandon (a cause). 

noun
  • An unsteadiness. 

How often have the words dead-end and falter occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )