course of action vs proceeding

course of action

noun
  • A plan; a set of intended actions, through which one intends to achieve a goal. 

proceeding

noun
  • A measure or step taken in a course of business; a transaction 

  • An event or happening; something that happens 

  • A published collection of papers presented at an academic conference, or representing the acts of a learned society. 

  • The act of one who proceeds, or who prosecutes a design or transaction 

  • Progress or movement from one thing to another. 

  • Any legal action, especially one that is not a lawsuit. 

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