contaminate vs degrade

contaminate

verb
  • To make something dangerous or toxic by introducing impurities or foreign matter. 

  • To soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by contact or association. 

  • To infect, often with bad objects 

  • To make unfit for use by the introduction of unwholesome or undesirable elements. 

degrade

verb
  • To reduce in quality or purity. 

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

  • To lower in value or social position. 

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