dire vs grave

dire

adj
  • Expressing bad consequences: dreadful; dismal. 

  • Warning of bad consequences: ill-boding; portentous. 

  • Bad in quality, awful, terrible. 

  • Requiring action to prevent bad consequences: urgent, pressing. 

grave

adj
  • Serious, in a negative sense; important, formidable. 

  • Low in pitch, tone etc. 

  • Characterised by a dignified sense of seriousness; not cheerful. 

noun
  • Death, destruction. 

  • Any place of interment; a tomb; a sepulcher. 

  • Deceased people; the dead. 

  • An excavation in the earth as a place of burial 

  • A written accent used in French, Italian, and other languages. è is an e with a grave accent (`). 

  • A count, prefect, or person holding office. 

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