miscreant vs ruffian

miscreant

noun
  • One not restrained by moral principles; an unscrupulous villain. 

  • One who holds a false religious belief; a misbeliever. 

  • One who has behaved badly, or illegally. 

adj
  • Lacking in conscience or moral principles; unscrupulous. 

  • Holding an incorrect religious belief. 

ruffian

noun
  • A scoundrel, rascal, or unprincipled, deceitful, brutal and unreliable person. 

verb
  • To play the ruffian; to rage; to raise tumult. 

adj
  • Brutal; cruel; savagely boisterous; murderous. 

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