moderate vs stern

moderate

adj
  • Not violent or rigorous; temperate; mild; gentle. 

  • Having an intermediate position between liberal and conservative. 

  • Average priced; standard-deal 

  • more than mild, less than severe 

  • Mediocre 

  • Not excessive; acting in moderation 

noun
  • One who holds an intermediate position between extremes, as in politics. 

  • One of a party in Scottish Church history dominant in the 18th century, lax in doctrine and discipline, but intolerant of evangelicalism and popular rights. It caused the secessions of 1733 and 1761, and its final resultant was the Disruption of 1843. 

verb
  • To become less excessive 

  • To reduce the excessiveness of (something) 

  • To preside over (something) as a moderator 

  • To act as a moderator; to assist in bringing to compromise 

  • To supply with a moderator (substance that decreases the speed of neutrons in a nuclear reactor and hence increases likelihood of fission). 

stern

adj
  • Having a hardness and severity of nature or manner. 

  • Grim and forbidding in appearance. 

verb
  • To propel or move backward or stern-first in the water. 

noun
  • A bird, the black tern. 

  • The tail of an animal; now used only of the tail of a dog. 

  • The hinder part of anything. 

  • The post of management or direction. 

  • The rear part or after end of a ship or vessel. 

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