defeat vs overcome

defeat

verb
  • To overcome in battle or contest. 

  • To nullify 

  • To prevent (something) from being achieved. 

  • To reduce, to nothing, the strength of. 

noun
  • The act or instance of being defeated, of being overcome or vanquished; a loss. 

  • Frustration (by prevention of success), stymieing; (law) nullification. 

  • The act or instance of defeating, of overcoming, vanquishing. 

overcome

verb
  • To win or prevail in some sort of battle, contest, etc. 

  • To surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of. 

  • To prevail. 

  • To recover from (a difficulty), to get over 

  • To come or pass over; to spread over. 

noun
  • The burden or recurring theme in a song. 

  • A surplus. 

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