適sik1得dak1其kei4反faan2

simp适得其反

sik1 dak1 kei4 faan2shì dé qí fǎn

English

to produce the opposite of the desired result
to be just the opposite of what one wished

粵語 — Cantonese

結果同本意、期望相反

Examples

健身過度可能會適得其反。
To overdo it in the gym may result in the opposite of what you wish.
...不然难免会有适得其反的情况出现。
... Otherwise it is (or will be) hard to avoid a counterproductive situation.
Tatoeba · tomgodber CC BY

Sources: cc-cedict, rime-cantonese, words.hk

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