recede vs taper off

recede

verb
  • To move back; to retreat; to withdraw. 

  • To cede back; to grant or yield again to a former possessor. 

  • To take back. 

taper off

verb
  • To diminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc. 

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