deceased vs decedent

deceased

noun
  • A dead person. 

  • One who has died. In property law, the alternate term decedent is generally used in US English. In criminal law, “the deceased” refers to the victim of a homicide. 

adj
  • Overwhelmed to the point of being figuratively dead. 

  • One who has died. In property law, the alternate term decedent is generally used. In criminal law, "the deceased" refers to the victim of a homicide. 

  • Belonging to the dead. 

  • No longer alive; dead. 

decedent

noun
  • A dead person. 

adj
  • Removing; departing; deceased. 

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