dear vs special

dear

adj
  • Precious to or greatly valued by someone. 

  • A formal way to start (possibly after my) addressing somebody at the beginning of a letter, memo etc. 

  • Loving, affectionate, heartfelt 

  • Loved; lovable. 

  • An ironic way to start (often after my) addressing an inferior. 

  • Lovely; kind. 

  • A formal way to start (often after my) addressing somebody one likes or regards kindly. 

  • High in price; expensive. 

  • Severe, or severely affected; sore. 

noun
  • An affectionate, familiar term of address, such as used between husband and wife. 

  • A beloved person. 

  • A very kind, loving person. 

  • An elderly person, especially a woman. 

adv
  • Dearly; at a high price. 

special

adj
  • Of particular personal interest or value; dear; beloved. 

  • Chief in excellence. 

  • Of or related to disabilities, especially learning or intellectual disabilities. 

  • Distinguished by a unique or unusual quality. 

  • Constituting or relating to a species. 

  • Of or related to unconventional warfare. 

verb
  • To supervise a patient one-on-one. 

noun
  • Anything that is not according to normal practice, plan, or schedule, as an unscheduled run of transportation that is normally scheduled. 

  • A person appointed specifically to examine a single event or issue. 

  • Any unlicensed medicine produced or obtained for a specific individual patient. 

  • A dispatch sent back by a special correspondent. 

  • One of a rotation of meals systematically offered for a lower price at a restaurant. 

  • A light that illuminates a specific person or thing on the stage. 

  • A reduction in consumer cost (usually for a limited time) for items or services rendered. 

  • A special constable. 

  • A correspondent; a journalist sent to the scene of an event to report back. 

  • Unusual or exceptional episode of a series. 

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