belittle vs degrade

belittle

verb
  • To knowingly say that something is smaller or less important than it actually is, especially as a way of showing contempt or deprecation. 

degrade

verb
  • To lower in value or social position. 

  • To reduce in altitude or magnitude, as hills and mountains; to wear down. 

  • To reduce in quality or purity. 

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