かえって

About

かえって is an adverb that means "on the contrary; rather", and is used to set up a contrasting statement. かえって is very similar to ぎゃくに, but is more polite in tone, and is therefore used in different scenarios.

"On the contrary; rather" and "actually" are common translations for かえって.

かえって may sometimes appear in kanji as 却かえって or 反かえって, but most of the time it's written in hiragana.

かえって is most often used in polite and formal contexts. It may be used in casual conversation as well, but this isn't as common.

E.g. 速はやいと思おもって電車でんしゃに乗のったが、かえって遅おそくなってしまった。 "I thought it would be fast, and so I got on a train, but on the contrary, I was delayed."

E.g. セールだと思おもって買かったけど、全部ぜんぶ腐くさっていて、かえって損そんをした。 "I bought them thinking they were a deal, but they were rotten, and I ended up losing out."

E.g. 完璧かんぺきを求もとめすぎると却かえって失敗しっぱいしますよ。 "If you aim too much for perfection, you'll end up failing instead."

Summary

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  かえって is an adverb that means "on the contrary; rather"

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  かえって is used to set up a contrasting statement

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  かえって is most often used in polite and formal contexts