degrade vs refine

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. 

refine

verb
  • To purify; reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from impurities. 

  • To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence. 

  • To become pure; to be cleared of impure matter. 

  • To purify of coarseness, vulgarity, inelegance, etc.; to polish. 

  • To make nice or subtle. 

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