"stark poverty" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It is typically used to describe extreme poverty that is severe and harsh. Example: The small village was plagued by stark poverty, with most families living in crumbling homes and struggling to find enough food to eat.
She has promised herself to Bucky because she sees no other way out of stark poverty.
But their language, their stark poverty, was untranslatable, and I moved among them behind a crystal wall of privilege.
Political injustice to a nation or a people, when combined with stark poverty and illiteracy, makes for an explosive mix.
Unlike the walled off bungalows of Delhi, Mumbai's towering mansions seem to really stand out in large part because they are often surrounded by stark poverty.
Although their remittances lift their societies from stark poverty, a foreign maid steps into a world of abuse, overwork, and suspicion.
Ms. Tutti, who lived in stark poverty with her parents and seven siblings in a mud house, found the proposal alluring.
The Cottage is a stark reminder that poverty is gendered.
My goal as a poet-reporter isn't just to show middle-class audiences the stark face of poverty — though that face is there.
Mr. Moi's Kenya has become a land of stark contrasts: dire poverty and fabulous, mostly stolen, wealth; natural beauty and collapsing infrastructure.
And when one prosecutor requested the names that went with certain licence plates suspected of criminal activity, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles tipped off the suspects.These problems are compounded by racism, poverty, stark and increasing economic disparity and poor education.
Tony Parsons's page is themed around crime novels and thrillers, while the author of Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh, has created a list that includes Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov and George Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying – "a completely harrowing and stark account of poverty", he writes of the grim story of a downtrodden would-be poet in 1930s London.
