retaliate vs retort

retaliate

verb
  • To do something harmful or negative to get revenge for some harm; to fight back or respond in kind to an injury or affront. 

  • To repay or requite by an act of the same kind. 

retort

verb
  • To say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation. 

  • To bend or curve back. 

  • To throw back; to reverberate; to reflect. 

  • To heat in a retort. 

  • To make a remark which reverses an argument upon its originator; to return, as an argument, accusation, censure, or incivility. 

noun
  • A pressure cooker. 

  • A crematory furnace. 

  • A sharp or witty reply, or one which turns an argument against its originator; a comeback. 

  • An airtight vessel in which material is subjected to high temperatures in the chemical industry or as part of an industrial manufacturing process, especially during the smelting and forging of metal. 

  • A flask with a rounded base and a long neck that is bent down and tapered, used to heat a liquid for distillation. 

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