diff --git a/clang-tools-extra/clang-tidy/bugprone/ExceptionEscapeCheck.cpp b/clang-tools-extra/clang-tidy/bugprone/ExceptionEscapeCheck.cpp
index 276c46ca9fe90..635cc2ca05d12 100644
--- a/clang-tools-extra/clang-tidy/bugprone/ExceptionEscapeCheck.cpp
+++ b/clang-tools-extra/clang-tidy/bugprone/ExceptionEscapeCheck.cpp
@@ -52,7 +52,8 @@ void ExceptionEscapeCheck::storeOptions(ClangTidyOptions::OptionMap &Opts) {
 
 void ExceptionEscapeCheck::registerMatchers(MatchFinder *Finder) {
   Finder->addMatcher(
-      functionDecl(anyOf(isNoThrow(), cxxDestructorDecl(),
+      functionDecl(isDefinition(),
+                   anyOf(isNoThrow(), cxxDestructorDecl(),
                          cxxConstructorDecl(isMoveConstructor()),
                          cxxMethodDecl(isMoveAssignmentOperator()),
                          hasName("main"), hasName("swap"),
diff --git a/clang-tools-extra/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst b/clang-tools-extra/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst
index 49f880c971a34..5695d59e89153 100644
--- a/clang-tools-extra/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst
+++ b/clang-tools-extra/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst
@@ -201,6 +201,10 @@ Changes in existing checks
   <clang-tidy/checks/bugprone/dynamic-static-initializers>` check.
   Global options of the same name should be used instead.
 
+- Improved :doc:`bugprone-exception-escape
+  <clang-tidy/checks/bugprone/exception-escape>` to not emit warnings for
+  forward declarations of functions.
+
 - Improved :doc:`bugprone-fold-init-type
   <clang-tidy/checks/bugprone/fold-init-type>` to handle iterators that do not
   define `value_type` type aliases.
diff --git a/clang-tools-extra/test/clang-tidy/checkers/bugprone/exception-escape.cpp b/clang-tools-extra/test/clang-tidy/checkers/bugprone/exception-escape.cpp
index 142c8b114b7c8..78d434854b095 100644
--- a/clang-tools-extra/test/clang-tidy/checkers/bugprone/exception-escape.cpp
+++ b/clang-tools-extra/test/clang-tidy/checkers/bugprone/exception-escape.cpp
@@ -655,7 +655,6 @@ int directly_recursive(int n) noexcept {
 }
 
 int indirectly_recursive(int n) noexcept;
-  // CHECK-MESSAGES: :[[@LINE-1]]:5: warning: an exception may be thrown in function 'indirectly_recursive' which should not throw exceptions
 
 int recursion_helper(int n) {
   indirectly_recursive(n);