smouldering vs withering

smouldering

noun
  • The act by which something smoulders; residual heat. 

adj
  • Burning slowly, producing smoke but no flame. 

withering

noun
  • The process by which something withers. 

adj
  • Tending to destroy, devastate, overwhelm, or cause complete destruction. 

  • Diminishing rapidly. 

  • Tending to make someone feel small; scornful in a mortifying way. 

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