instrumental vs life-or-death

instrumental

adj
  • essential or central; of great importance or relevance. 

  • Pertaining to, made by, or prepared for an instrument, especially a musical instrument (rather than the human voice). 

  • Applied to a case expressing means or agency, generally indicated in English by by or with with the objective. 

  • Serving as an instrument, medium, means, or agency. 

noun
  • The instrumental case. 

  • A composition written or performed without lyrics, sometimes using a lead instrument to replace vocals. 

life-or-death

adj
  • Of critical importance to the success of a particular endeavor. 

  • Having death as a possible or even likely outcome; perilous. 

  • Of critical importance to the survival of a living organism. 

How often have the words instrumental and life-or-death occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )