groaning vs shriek

groaning

noun
  • A low sound associated with extended suffering, sorrow, and toil. 

adj
  • Heavily laden, as if to creak under the strain. 

  • That groans. 

shriek

noun
  • A sharp, shrill outcry or scream; a shrill wild cry such as is caused by sudden or extreme terror, pain, or the like. 

  • An exclamation mark. 

verb
  • To utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry, as do some birds and beasts; to scream, as in a sudden fright, in horror or anguish. 

  • To utter sharply and shrilly; to utter in or with a shriek or shrieks. 

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