improve vs lessen

improve

verb
  • To make (something) better; to increase the value or productivity (of something). 

  • To become better. 

lessen

verb
  • To make less; to diminish; to reduce. 

  • To become less. 

conj
  • unless. 

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