contaminate vs pollute

contaminate

verb
  • To make something dangerous or toxic by introducing impurities or foreign matter. 

  • To soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by contact or association. 

  • To infect, often with bad objects 

  • To make unfit for use by the introduction of unwholesome or undesirable elements. 

pollute

verb
  • To make something harmful, especially by the addition of some unwanted product. 

  • To violate sexually; to debauch; to dishonour. 

  • To make something or somewhere less suitable for some activity, especially by the introduction of some unnatural factor. 

  • To corrupt or profane 

adj
  • Polluted; defiled. 

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