defy vs fly in the face of

defy

verb
  • To refuse to obey. 

  • To challenge (someone) or brave (a hazard or opposition). 

  • To not conform to or follow a pattern, set of rules or expectations. 

fly in the face of

verb
  • To act in a manner highly contrary to; to counteract or contradict. 

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