improvement vs mortification

improvement

noun
  • Increase; growth; progress; advance. 

  • The act of improving; advancement or growth; a bettering 

  • Something which is improved 

  • Valuable additions or betterments, for example buildings, clearings, drains, fences, etc., on premises. 

  • A useful addition to, or modification of, a machine, manufacture, or composition. 

  • The state of being improved; betterment; advance 

  • The act of making profitable use or application of anything, or the state of being profitably employed; practical application, for example of a doctrine, principle, or theory, stated in a discourse. 

mortification

noun
  • A bequest to a charitable institution. 

  • The death of part of the body. 

  • A sensation of extreme shame or embarrassment. 

  • The act of mortifying. 

  • A bringing under of the passions and appetites by a severe or strict manner of living. 

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