diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/wait/wait.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/wait/wait.go
index d781a76f7f5..317bbbf8b1b 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/wait/wait.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/wait/wait.go
@@ -247,7 +247,8 @@ func (o *WaitOptions) RunWait() error {
 		return err
 	}
 	visitor := o.ResourceFinder.Do()
-	if visitor, ok := visitor.(*resource.Result); ok && strings.ToLower(o.ForCondition) == "delete" {
+	isForDelete := strings.ToLower(o.ForCondition) == "delete"
+	if visitor, ok := visitor.(*resource.Result); ok && isForDelete {
 		visitor.IgnoreErrors(apierrors.IsNotFound)
 	}
 
@@ -255,7 +256,7 @@ func (o *WaitOptions) RunWait() error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	if visitCount == 0 {
+	if visitCount == 0 && !isForDelete {
 		return errNoMatchingResources
 	}
 	return err
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/wait/wait_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/wait/wait_test.go
index f347ea25737..d838d065c98 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/wait/wait_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/wait/wait_test.go
@@ -801,15 +801,7 @@ func TestWaitForDeletionIgnoreNotFound(t *testing.T) {
 	listMapping := map[schema.GroupVersionResource]string{
 		{Group: "group", Version: "version", Resource: "theresource"}: "TheKindList",
 	}
-	infos := []*resource.Info{
-		{
-			Mapping: &meta.RESTMapping{
-				Resource: schema.GroupVersionResource{Group: "group", Version: "version", Resource: "theresource"},
-			},
-			Name:      "name-foo",
-			Namespace: "ns-foo",
-		},
-	}
+	infos := []*resource.Info{}
 	fakeClient := dynamicfakeclient.NewSimpleDynamicClientWithCustomListKinds(scheme, listMapping)
 
 	o := &WaitOptions{
diff --git a/test/e2e/kubectl/kubectl.go b/test/e2e/kubectl/kubectl.go
index acaf5651da4..b1970be7a41 100644
--- a/test/e2e/kubectl/kubectl.go
+++ b/test/e2e/kubectl/kubectl.go
@@ -1827,6 +1827,14 @@ metadata:
 			}
 		})
 	})
+
+	ginkgo.Describe("kubectl wait", func() {
+		ginkgo.It("should ignore not found error with --for=delete", func() {
+			ginkgo.By("calling kubectl wait --for=delete")
+			framework.RunKubectlOrDie(ns, "wait", "--for=delete", "pod/doesnotexist")
+			framework.RunKubectlOrDie(ns, "wait", "--for=delete", "pod", "--selector=app.kubernetes.io/name=noexist")
+		})
+	})
 })
 
 // Checks whether the output split by line contains the required elements.