sad vs wretched

sad

adj
  • Unfashionable; socially inadequate or undesirable. 

  • Soggy (to refer to pastries). 

  • Causing sorrow; lamentable. 

  • Of colours: dark, deep; later, sombre, dull. 

  • Appearing sorrowful. 

  • Feeling sorrow; sorrowful, mournful. 

  • Poor in quality, bad; shameful, deplorable; later, regrettable, poor. 

wretched

adj
  • Of an inferior or unworthy nature or social status; contemptible, lowly. 

  • Of a person, etc.: behaving in a manner deserving contempt; base, despicable, wicked. 

  • Of weather: causing much discomfort; very unpleasant; miserable. 

  • Characterized by or feeling deep affliction or distress; very miserable. 

  • Of an insignificant, mean, or poor nature; miserable, paltry, worthless. 

  • Used to express annoyance towards or dislike of someone or something: bloody, damned. 

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