intrigue vs surmise

intrigue

verb
  • To conceive or carry out a secret plan intended to harm; to form a plot or scheme. 

  • To have clandestine or illicit intercourse. 

  • To fill with artifice and duplicity; to complicate. 

  • To arouse the interest of; to fascinate. 

noun
  • A complicated or clandestine plot or scheme intended to effect some purpose by secret artifice; conspiracy; stratagem. 

  • The plot of a play, poem or romance; the series of complications in which a writer involves their imaginary characters. 

  • Clandestine intercourse between persons; illicit intimacy; a liaison or affair. 

surmise

verb
  • To imagine or suspect; to conjecture; to posit with contestable premises. 

noun
  • Thought, imagination, or conjecture, which may be based upon feeble or scanty evidence; suspicion; guess. 

  • Reflection; thought; posit. 

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