Difference between 逆に and それどころか?


I know that both of them means "on the contrary".  
But I have seen that それどころか can also mean "as if it's not enough already", "
In fact/ actually, and "not to speak of ".  
Does 逆に have all these other meanings too?




逆 literally means "contrary" or "reverse", so it never means "in addition".
But 逆に has a broader sense than "on the contrary", and it may be translated as
"rather", "in reverse", "adversely", or "in reverse order" depending on the
situation.

  * [Can "逆に" be used to say "in addition"?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/57000/5010) (this is your own question)
  * [Understanding what 逆に means in context with an emotion](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/41839/5010)

Translating 逆に as "actually" is fine when it implies "contrary to what you may
expect" or "contrary to what has been asked". For example, when someone asked
"Are you busy recently?", a possible reply would be:

>   * 逆に暇で困っています。  
>  それどころか暇で困っています。  
>  _Actually_ , I have too much spare time.
>   * はい、本当に忙しいです。  
>  Yes, _actually_ I am very busy. (逆/それどころか cannot be used)
>

* * *

`Xどころか` is used to strongly negate what has been said and tell something more
"extreme". The following "extreme" statement can be either something quite
contrary to X or simply more extreme than just X. For example, if someone said
"Hmm, this car looks expensive." at an auto show, a possible reply would be:

>   * 高いどころか、たった80万円ですよ。
>   * 高いどころか、1億円ですよ。
>   * 80万円なので、逆に安いですよ。
>

TL;DR: When something is a severe understatement, you can use それどころか but not
逆に.

