ни при чем

I

• НИ ПРИ ЧЕМ (тут, здесь) coll

[PrepP; Invar; subj-compl with быть]

=====

1. [subj: human or collect]

⇒ a person or group is not involved in the matter at hand (often implies that the person or group in question is not guilty in the given matter):

- X (тут) ни при чём{{}}≈ X has nothing to do with it (at all);

- X doesn't come into it at all;

- X plays no part in it;

- [in limited contexts] it's not X's fault (doing etc);

- X is not responsible <at fault etc>.

     ♦ "Ах, вы считаете, что во всём виновата я? А ваш Виктор был ни при чом?" (Трифонов 4). "Ah, you consider me guilty for everything? And your Viktor had nothing to do with it?" (4a).

     ♦ "Что ты всё валишь на Андропова? Он вообще ни при чём" (Солженицын 2). "Why do you keep blaming Andropov for everything? He doesn't come into it at all" (2a).

     ♦ Софья Александровна... не может простить Советской власти высылки Саши. Но если даже это ошибка, то Советская власть здесь ни при чём, от ошибок не избавлена никакая власть (Рыбаков 2). Sofya Alexandrovna was...unable to forgive the Soviet regime for Sasha's exile. But even if that had been a mistake, the Soviet regime as such was not at fault, there wasn't a government in the world that did not make mistakes (2a).

2. [subj: concr or abstr]

⇒ sth. has no relevance to the matter or topic at hand:

- X (тут) ни при чём{{}}≈ X has nothing to do with it < sth.> (at all);

- X is irrelevant (unrelated, beside the point).

     ♦ ...[Мадлена] сочинила роман под названием "Клелия (Римская история)". Римская история была в нём, собственно, ни при чём. Изображены были под видом римлян видные парижане (Булгаков 5). ... [Madeleine] composed a novel she titled Clelie, A Roman Story. Properly speaking, Rome had nothing to do with the story at all. Under the guise of Romans, the novel depicted eminent Parisians (5a).

     ♦ [context transl] "Ты чего же - большевик?" - "Прозвище тут ни при чём... Дело не в прозвище, а в правде" (Шолохов 3). "What are you then-a Bolshevik?" "The name makes no difference. ...It's not the name that matters, but the truth" (3a).

II

• НИ ПРИ ЧЕМ остаться coll

[PrepP; Invar; subj-compl with остаться (subj: human)]

=====

⇒ one is left without anything at all, usu. without having attained sth. desired or expected:

- X остался ни при чём{{}}≈ X was left with nothing;

- X was left out in the cold.

     ♦ Всем дали премии, а я снова остался ни при чём. Everybody else got a bonus, but again I was left with nothing.