diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/55938-dnf-fix-wildcard-matching-state-absent.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/55938-dnf-fix-wildcard-matching-state-absent.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..8f6fa1c61ae616
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/55938-dnf-fix-wildcard-matching-state-absent.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - "dnf - fix wildcard matching for state: absent (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/55938)"
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/os/dnf.py b/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/os/dnf.py
index 7a395675a6382f..25454ddd55907e 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/os/dnf.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/os/dnf.py
@@ -1108,6 +1108,14 @@ def ensure(self):
 
                 installed = self.base.sack.query().installed()
                 for pkg_spec in pkg_specs:
+                    # short-circuit installed check for wildcard matching
+                    if '*' in pkg_spec:
+                        try:
+                            self.base.remove(pkg_spec)
+                        except dnf.exceptions.MarkingError as e:
+                            failure_response['failures'].append('{0} - {1}'.format(pkg_spec, to_native(e)))
+                        continue
+
                     installed_pkg = list(map(str, installed.filter(name=pkg_spec).run()))
                     if installed_pkg:
                         candidate_pkg = self._packagename_dict(installed_pkg[0])
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/dnf/tasks/repo.yml b/test/integration/targets/dnf/tasks/repo.yml
index 89aa87462a8864..978d4817d7caca 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/dnf/tasks/repo.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/dnf/tasks/repo.yml
@@ -256,6 +256,26 @@
         that:
         - rpm_main_result.rc == 0
         - rpm_weak_result.rc == 1  # the weak dependency shouldn't be installed
+
+    # https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/55938
+    - name: Install foo-*
+      dnf:
+        name: foo-*
+        state: present
+
+    - name: Uninstall foo-*
+      dnf:
+        name: foo-*
+        state: absent
+
+    - name: Check if all foo packages are removed
+      shell: rpm -qa foo-* | wc -l
+      register: rpm_result
+
+    - name: Verify rpm result
+      assert:
+        that:
+          - rpm_result.stdout == '0'
   always:
     - name: Clean up
       dnf: