foremost vs preeminent

foremost

adj
  • Of the highest rank or position; of the greatest importance; of the highest priority. 

  • Positioned in front of (all) others in space, most forward. 

  • Coming before (all) others in time. 

  • Closest to the bow. 

adv
  • In front, prominently forward. 

  • First in time. 

  • Most importantly. 

preeminent

adj
  • Exceeding others in quality or rank; of outstanding excellence, extremely notable or important. 

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