diff --git a/.README/rules/match-description.md b/.README/rules/match-description.md
index 0b434276d..207d65f45 100644
--- a/.README/rules/match-description.md
+++ b/.README/rules/match-description.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ The default is this basic expression to match English sentences (Support
 for Unicode upper case may be added in a future version when it can be handled
 by our supported Node versions):
 
-``^([A-Z]|[`\\d_])[\\s\\S]*[.?!`]$``
+``^([A-Z]|[`\\d_])[\\s\\S]*[.?!`]\\s*$``
 
 Applies to the jsdoc block description and `@description` (or `@desc`)
 by default but the `tags` option (see below) may be used to match other tags.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9a986a4f7..948d5d7a5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6608,7 +6608,7 @@ The default is this basic expression to match English sentences (Support
 for Unicode upper case may be added in a future version when it can be handled
 by our supported Node versions):
 
-``^([A-Z]|[`\\d_])[\\s\\S]*[.?!`]$``
+``^([A-Z]|[`\\d_])[\\s\\S]*[.?!`]\\s*$``
 
 Applies to the jsdoc block description and `@description` (or `@desc`)
 by default but the `tags` option (see below) may be used to match other tags.
@@ -6960,7 +6960,7 @@ function quux (foo) {
 function quux (foo) {
 
 }
-// "jsdoc/match-description": ["error"|"warn", {"mainDescription":"^[a-zA-Z]*$","tags":{"param":true}}]
+// "jsdoc/match-description": ["error"|"warn", {"mainDescription":"^[a-zA-Z]*\\s*$","tags":{"param":true}}]
 // Message: JSDoc description does not satisfy the regex pattern.
 
 /**
@@ -6971,7 +6971,7 @@ function quux (foo) {
 function quux (foo) {
 
 }
-// "jsdoc/match-description": ["error"|"warn", {"mainDescription":{"match":"^[a-zA-Z]*$","message":"Letters only"},"tags":{"param":{"match":true,"message":"Needs to begin with a capital letter and end with a period."}}}]
+// "jsdoc/match-description": ["error"|"warn", {"mainDescription":{"match":"^[a-zA-Z]*\\s*$","message":"Letters only"},"tags":{"param":{"match":true,"message":"Needs to begin with a capital letter and end with a period."}}}]
 // Message: Needs to begin with a capital letter and end with a period.
 
 /**
@@ -7151,6 +7151,16 @@ function quux (foo) {
 }
 // Settings: {"jsdoc":{"tagNamePreference":{"description":false}}}
 // Message: JSDoc description does not satisfy the regex pattern.
+
+/**
+ * Description with extra new line
+ *
+ */
+function quux () {
+
+}
+// "jsdoc/match-description": ["error"|"warn", {"matchDescription":"[\\s\\S]*\\S$"}]
+// Message: JSDoc description does not satisfy the regex pattern.
 ````
 
 The following patterns are not considered problems:
diff --git a/src/rules/matchDescription.js b/src/rules/matchDescription.js
index d63f877fe..8010f161c 100644
--- a/src/rules/matchDescription.js
+++ b/src/rules/matchDescription.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import iterateJsdoc from '../iterateJsdoc';
 
 // If supporting Node >= 10, we could loosen the default to this for the
 //   initial letter: \\p{Upper}
-const matchDescriptionDefault = '^[A-Z`\\d_][\\s\\S]*[.?!`]$';
+const matchDescriptionDefault = '^[A-Z`\\d_][\\s\\S]*[.?!`]\\s*$';
 
 const stringOrDefault = (value, userDefault) => {
   return typeof value === 'string' ?
@@ -68,9 +68,7 @@ export default iterateJsdoc(({
     const {
       description,
     } = utils.getDescription();
-    validateDescription(
-      description.replace(/\s+$/u, ''),
-    );
+    validateDescription(description);
   }
 
   if (!tags || !Object.keys(tags).length) {
diff --git a/test/rules/assertions/matchDescription.js b/test/rules/assertions/matchDescription.js
index 5e5db9d2b..926d69b14 100644
--- a/test/rules/assertions/matchDescription.js
+++ b/test/rules/assertions/matchDescription.js
@@ -446,7 +446,7 @@ export default {
       ],
       options: [
         {
-          mainDescription: '^[a-zA-Z]*$',
+          mainDescription: '^[a-zA-Z]*\\s*$',
           tags: {
             param: true,
           },
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ export default {
       options: [
         {
           mainDescription: {
-            match: '^[a-zA-Z]*$',
+            match: '^[a-zA-Z]*\\s*$',
             message: 'Letters only',
           },
           tags: {
@@ -912,6 +912,28 @@ export default {
         },
       },
     },
+    {
+      code: `
+          /**
+           * Description with extra new line
+           *
+           */
+          function quux () {
+
+          }
+      `,
+      errors: [
+        {
+          line: 3,
+          message: 'JSDoc description does not satisfy the regex pattern.',
+        },
+      ],
+      options: [
+        {
+          matchDescription: '[\\s\\S]*\\S$',
+        },
+      ],
+    },
   ],
   valid: [
     {