degrade vs prefer

degrade

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

  • To lower in value or social position. 

  • To reduce in quality or purity. 

prefer

verb
  • To present or submit (something) to an authority (now usually in "to prefer charges"). 

  • To be in the habit of choosing something rather than something else; to favor; to like better. 

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