Counter-intuitive

Something is counter-intuitive if it does not seem likely to be true using the tool of human intuition to perceive reality. The phrase is most often used to describe bits of scientifically-discovered, objective truth that, for one reason or another, our right brain, intuition, emotions, and the sum of our cognitive processes outside of deductive rationality interpret as 'false' or 'wrong.'

For example, string theory is an extremely counter-intuitive theory, simply because it postulates reality being made up of 2-dimensional vibrating loops that stretch and slide around, and this doesn't ring true, so to speak. In other words, 'string theory' is not intuitively true for many people, including a great many quantum physicists. However, the math works out, and string theory reconciles rifts between quantum mechanics and relativity, so there is objective evidence for a string-composed universe, even though intuitively this has little meaning.

Of course, the subjective nature of intuition make it impossible to say with any objective accuracy what is counter-intuitive -- what is counter-inuitive for one may very well not be for another, since the sources of intuitive 'knowledge' are very much open to debate and epistemological inquiry.

All in all, one can safely label something as 'counter-intuitive' if it is mathematically or scientifically proven to be true, while seeming, according to one's own gut-feeling, to be false.