degrade vs sully

degrade

verb
  • To lower in value or social position. 

  • To reduce in altitude or magnitude, as hills and mountains; to wear down. 

  • To reduce in quality or purity. 

sully

verb
  • To corrupt or damage. 

  • To soil or stain; to dirty. 

  • To become soiled or tarnished. 

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