penance vs witch-hunt

penance

noun
  • Any instrument of self-punishment. 

  • A voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful act or wrongdoing. It may be intended to serve as reparation for the act. 

  • A sacrament in some Christian churches. 

verb
  • To impose penance; to punish. 

witch-hunt

noun
  • A search for people believed to be using sorcery or harmful magic, typically in order to persecute or punish them. 

  • A public or political campaign or investigation which smears a person or group. 

  • An attempt to find and punish or harass a group of people perceived as a threat, usually on ideological or political grounds. 

verb
  • To perform a witch-hunt. 

How often have the words penance and witch-hunt occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )