gently vs seriously

gently

adv
  • In a gentle manner; to a gentle degree. 

  • Without strong force or quickness: softly, lightly. 

  • From a gentle or high-class family. 

  • Quietly: without much noise or motion. 

seriously

adv
  • In a serious or literal manner. 

  • Used to attempt to introduce a serious point in a less serious conversation. 

  • In an extreme or major way; majorly 

  • Used to call back to a previous point, in disbelief or for emphasis. 

  • Gravely; deeply; very much. 

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