dreadful vs slight

dreadful

noun
  • A shocker: a report of a crime written in a provokingly lurid style. 

  • A shocking or sensational crime. 

  • A journal or broadsheet printing such reports. 

adv
  • Dreadfully. 

adj
  • Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming; dangerous, risky. 

  • Unpleasant, awful, very bad (also used as an intensifier). 

slight

noun
  • The act of ignoring or snubbing; a deliberate act of neglect or discourtesy. 

verb
  • To act negligently or carelessly. 

  • To treat with disdain or neglect, usually out of prejudice, hatred, or jealousy; to ignore disrespectfully. 

  • To treat as unimportant or not worthy of attention; to make light of. 

  • To render no longer defensible by full or partial demolition. 

  • To give lesser weight or importance to. 

  • To throw heedlessly. 

adj
  • still; with little or no movement on the surface 

  • Even, smooth or level 

  • not far away in space or time 

  • of slender build 

  • gentle or weak, not aggressive or powerful 

  • not thorough; superficial 

  • trifling; unimportant; insignificant 

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