gangrene vs withering

gangrene

noun
  • A damaging or corrupting influence. 

  • The necrosis or rotting of flesh, usually caused by lack of blood supply. 

verb
  • To produce gangrene in. 

  • To be affected with gangrene. 

  • To corrupt; To cause to become degenerate. 

withering

noun
  • The process by which something withers. 

adj
  • Tending to destroy, devastate, overwhelm, or cause complete destruction. 

  • Diminishing rapidly. 

  • Tending to make someone feel small; scornful in a mortifying way. 

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