fizzle vs sibilant

fizzle

noun
  • A spluttering or hissing sound. 

  • Failure of an exploding nuclear bomb to meet its expected yield during testing. 

  • An abortive effort; a flop or dud. 

  • A state of agitation or worry. 

verb
  • To fail to generate the expected yield when exploded during testing. 

  • To decay or die off to nothing; to burn out; to end less successfully than previously hoped. 

  • To sputter or hiss. 

sibilant

noun
  • A consonant having a hissing or hushing sound such as the s or sh in sack or shack. 

adj
  • Characterized by a hissing or hushing sound such as the s or sh in sack or shack. 

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