diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/MapperQueryParser.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/MapperQueryParser.java
index 48adc2431acdf..a6ff7ef848e74 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/MapperQueryParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/MapperQueryParser.java
@@ -75,6 +75,8 @@ public class MapperQueryParser extends QueryParser {
 
     private String quoteFieldSuffix;
 
+    private boolean lenient;
+
     public MapperQueryParser(QueryParseContext parseContext) {
         super(Lucene.QUERYPARSER_VERSION, null, null);
         this.parseContext = parseContext;
@@ -162,15 +164,23 @@ public Query getFieldQuery(String field, String queryText, boolean quoted) throw
                 if (currentMapper != null) {
                     Query query = null;
                     if (currentMapper.useFieldQueryWithQueryString()) {
-                        if (fieldMappers.explicitTypeInNameWithDocMapper()) {
-                            String[] previousTypes = QueryParseContext.setTypesWithPrevious(new String[]{fieldMappers.docMapper().type()});
-                            try {
+                        try {
+                            if (fieldMappers.explicitTypeInNameWithDocMapper()) {
+                                String[] previousTypes = QueryParseContext.setTypesWithPrevious(new String[]{fieldMappers.docMapper().type()});
+                                try {
+                                    query = currentMapper.fieldQuery(queryText, parseContext);
+                                } finally {
+                                    QueryParseContext.setTypes(previousTypes);
+                                }
+                            } else {
                                 query = currentMapper.fieldQuery(queryText, parseContext);
-                            } finally {
-                                QueryParseContext.setTypes(previousTypes);
                             }
-                        } else {
-                            query = currentMapper.fieldQuery(queryText, parseContext);
+                        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+                            if (lenient) {
+                                return null;
+                            } else {
+                                throw e;
+                            }
                         }
                     }
                     if (query == null) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/QueryParserSettings.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/QueryParserSettings.java
index f9778655cd47d..03f6cca272950 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/QueryParserSettings.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/lucene/queryParser/QueryParserSettings.java
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ public class QueryParserSettings {
     private String quoteFieldSuffix = null;
     private MultiTermQuery.RewriteMethod rewriteMethod = MultiTermQuery.CONSTANT_SCORE_AUTO_REWRITE_DEFAULT;
     private String minimumShouldMatch;
+    private boolean lenient;
 
     public String queryString() {
         return queryString;
@@ -212,6 +213,14 @@ public String quoteFieldSuffix() {
         return this.quoteFieldSuffix;
     }
 
+    public void lenient(boolean lenient) {
+        this.lenient = lenient;
+    }
+
+    public boolean lenient() {
+        return this.lenient;
+    }
+
     @Override
     public boolean equals(Object o) {
         if (this == o) return true;
@@ -246,6 +255,9 @@ public boolean equals(Object o) {
             return false;
         if (quoteFieldSuffix != null ? !quoteFieldSuffix.equals(that.quoteFieldSuffix) : that.quoteFieldSuffix != null)
             return false;
+        if (lenient != that.lenient) {
+            return false;
+        }
 
         return true;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/IndexQueryParserService.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/IndexQueryParserService.java
index d4fbd9913174e..98aac9e2dc6dc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/IndexQueryParserService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/IndexQueryParserService.java
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ protected QueryParseContext initialValue() {
     private final Map<String, FilterParser> filterParsers;
 
     private String defaultField;
+    private boolean queryStringLenient;
 
     @Inject
     public IndexQueryParserService(Index index, @IndexSettings Settings indexSettings,
@@ -101,6 +102,7 @@ public IndexQueryParserService(Index index, @IndexSettings Settings indexSetting
         this.indexEngine = indexEngine;
 
         this.defaultField = indexSettings.get("index.query.default_field", AllFieldMapper.NAME);
+        this.queryStringLenient = indexSettings.getAsBoolean("index.query_string.lenient", false);
 
         List<QueryParser> queryParsers = newArrayList();
         if (namedQueryParsers != null) {
@@ -157,6 +159,10 @@ public String defaultField() {
         return this.defaultField;
     }
 
+    public boolean queryStringLenient() {
+        return this.queryStringLenient;
+    }
+
     public QueryParser queryParser(String name) {
         return queryParsers.get(name);
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryParseContext.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryParseContext.java
index a2869ca66b14c..075d838d4e885 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryParseContext.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryParseContext.java
@@ -137,6 +137,10 @@ public String defaultField() {
         return indexQueryParser.defaultField();
     }
 
+    public boolean queryStringLenient() {
+        return indexQueryParser.queryStringLenient();
+    }
+
     public MapperQueryParser singleQueryParser(QueryParserSettings settings) {
         queryParser.reset(settings);
         return queryParser;
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryParser.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryParser.java
index 60d920953583c..7a0ff53c5711c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryParser.java
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ public Query parse(QueryParseContext parseContext) throws IOException, QueryPars
 
         MultiFieldQueryParserSettings qpSettings = new MultiFieldQueryParserSettings();
         qpSettings.defaultField(parseContext.defaultField());
+        qpSettings.lenient(parseContext.queryStringLenient());
         qpSettings.analyzeWildcard(defaultAnalyzeWildcard);
         qpSettings.allowLeadingWildcard(defaultAllowLeadingWildcard);
 
@@ -178,6 +179,8 @@ public Query parse(QueryParseContext parseContext) throws IOException, QueryPars
                     qpSettings.minimumShouldMatch(parser.textOrNull());
                 } else if ("quote_field_suffix".equals(currentFieldName) || "quoteFieldSuffix".equals(currentFieldName)) {
                     qpSettings.quoteFieldSuffix(parser.textOrNull());
+                } else if ("lenient".equalsIgnoreCase(currentFieldName)) {
+                    qpSettings.lenient(parser.booleanValue());
                 } else {
                     throw new QueryParsingException(parseContext.index(), "[query_string] query does not support [" + currentFieldName + "]");
                 }