diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/apply/apply.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/apply/apply.go
index ee553f6e169..b9b34f62596 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/apply/apply.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/apply/apply.go
@@ -250,6 +250,10 @@ func (o *ApplyOptions) Complete(f cmdutil.Factory, cmd *cobra.Command) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	if o.DryRunStrategy == cmdutil.DryRunServer && o.DeleteOptions.ForceDeletion {
+		return fmt.Errorf("--dry-run=server cannot be used with --force")
+	}
+
 	o.OpenAPISchema, _ = f.OpenAPISchema()
 	o.Validator, err = f.Validator(cmdutil.GetFlagBool(cmd, "validate"))
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/apply/apply_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/apply/apply_test.go
index 2f6fe3dec01..df3f64fa119 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/apply/apply_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/apply/apply_test.go
@@ -1382,3 +1382,31 @@ func TestForceApply(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestDontAllowForceApplyWithServerDryRun(t *testing.T) {
+	expectedError := "error: --dry-run=server cannot be used with --force"
+
+	cmdutil.BehaviorOnFatal(func(str string, code int) {
+		panic(str)
+	})
+	defer func() {
+		actualError := recover()
+		if expectedError != actualError {
+			t.Fatalf(`expected error "%s", but got "%s"`, expectedError, actualError)
+		}
+	}()
+
+	tf := cmdtesting.NewTestFactory().WithNamespace("test")
+	defer tf.Cleanup()
+
+	tf.ClientConfigVal = cmdtesting.DefaultClientConfig()
+
+	ioStreams, _, _, _ := genericclioptions.NewTestIOStreams()
+	cmd := NewCmdApply("kubectl", tf, ioStreams)
+	cmd.Flags().Set("filename", filenameRC)
+	cmd.Flags().Set("dry-run", "server")
+	cmd.Flags().Set("force", "true")
+	cmd.Run(cmd, []string{})
+
+	t.Fatalf(`expected error "%s"`, expectedError)
+}