かえって
On the contrary, contrary to expectationsmachine translation
Formationかえって + result clause (usually after 〜たら／〜と／〜より)
かえって signals that the result is the OPPOSITE of what should have happened: 薬を飲んだら、かえって気分が悪くなった (I took the medicine and, if anything, felt worse). The typical frame: do A in order to get B, but receive the opposite of B.
かえって often follows conditional clauses with 〜たら・〜と, or appears in surprising comparisons: タクシーより歩いたほうがかえって早い (walking is actually faster than a taxi). The crux is always an implicit EXPECTATION being overturned — no expectation, no かえって.
Comparison: ところが also describes outcomes contrary to prediction, but it is a CONJUNCTION standing at the start of a sentence, linking two narrative sentences; かえって is an ADVERB inside the sentence, attached directly to the paradoxical result. And 逆に ("conversely") is more neutral — it just states the opposite direction without necessarily any betrayed expectation.
Examples
薬を飲んだら、かえって気分が悪くなりました。
I took the medicine, but it actually made me feel worse.
手伝ったつもりが、かえって仕事を増やしてしまいました。
I meant to help, but I ended up creating even more work.
タクシーより歩いたほうが、かえって早いこともあります。
Sometimes walking is actually faster than taking a taxi.