diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 3ff50f28b..c6c19e7a3 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ Deprecated
 Features added
 --------------
 
+* #3926: Add ``autodoc_warningiserror`` to suppress the behavior of ``-W``
+  option during importing target modules on autodoc
+
 Bugs fixed
 ----------
 
diff --git a/doc/ext/autodoc.rst b/doc/ext/autodoc.rst
index 62079c928..1f1892dbf 100644
--- a/doc/ext/autodoc.rst
+++ b/doc/ext/autodoc.rst
@@ -386,6 +386,13 @@ There are also new config values that you can set:
       This config value only requires to declare the top-level modules that
       should be mocked.
 
+.. confval:: autodoc_warningiserror
+
+   This value controls the behavior of :option:`sphinx-build -W` during
+   importing modules.
+   If ``False`` is given, autodoc forcely suppresses the error if the imported
+   module emits warnings.  By default, ``True``.
+
 Docstring preprocessing
 -----------------------
 
diff --git a/sphinx/ext/autodoc.py b/sphinx/ext/autodoc.py
index 4af2bb3c6..91feb6a2a 100644
--- a/sphinx/ext/autodoc.py
+++ b/sphinx/ext/autodoc.py
@@ -654,7 +654,8 @@ class Documenter(object):
             logger.debug('[autodoc] import %s', self.modname)
             with warnings.catch_warnings():
                 warnings.filterwarnings("ignore", category=ImportWarning)
-                __import__(self.modname)
+                with logging.skip_warningiserror(not self.env.config.autodoc_warningiserror):
+                    __import__(self.modname)
             parent = None
             obj = self.module = sys.modules[self.modname]
             logger.debug('[autodoc] => %r', obj)
@@ -1883,6 +1884,7 @@ def setup(app):
     app.add_config_value('autodoc_default_flags', [], True)
     app.add_config_value('autodoc_docstring_signature', True, True)
     app.add_config_value('autodoc_mock_imports', [], True)
+    app.add_config_value('autodoc_warningiserror', True, True)
     app.add_event('autodoc-process-docstring')
     app.add_event('autodoc-process-signature')
     app.add_event('autodoc-skip-member')
diff --git a/sphinx/util/logging.py b/sphinx/util/logging.py
index 85766a774..04cb5fcab 100644
--- a/sphinx/util/logging.py
+++ b/sphinx/util/logging.py
@@ -249,6 +249,27 @@ def pending_logging():
         memhandler.flushTo(logger)
 
 
+@contextmanager
+def skip_warningiserror(skip=True):
+    # type: (bool) -> Generator
+    """contextmanager to skip WarningIsErrorFilter for a while."""
+    logger = logging.getLogger()
+
+    if skip is False:
+        yield
+    else:
+        try:
+            disabler = DisableWarningIsErrorFilter()
+            for handler in logger.handlers:
+                # use internal method; filters.insert() directly to install disabler
+                # before WarningIsErrorFilter
+                handler.filters.insert(0, disabler)
+            yield
+        finally:
+            for handler in logger.handlers:
+                handler.removeFilter(disabler)
+
+
 class LogCollector(object):
     def __init__(self):
         # type: () -> None
@@ -330,7 +351,10 @@ class WarningIsErrorFilter(logging.Filter):
 
     def filter(self, record):
         # type: (logging.LogRecord) -> bool
-        if self.app.warningiserror:
+        if getattr(record, 'skip_warningsiserror', False):
+            # disabled by DisableWarningIsErrorFilter
+            return True
+        elif self.app.warningiserror:
             location = getattr(record, 'location', '')
             if location:
                 raise SphinxWarning(location + ":" + record.msg % record.args)
@@ -340,6 +364,15 @@ class WarningIsErrorFilter(logging.Filter):
             return True
 
 
+class DisableWarningIsErrorFilter(logging.Filter):
+    """Disable WarningIsErrorFilter if this filter installed."""
+
+    def filter(self, record):
+        # type: (logging.LogRecord) -> bool
+        record.skip_warningsiserror = True  # type: ignore
+        return True
+
+
 class WarningLogRecordTranslator(logging.Filter):
     """Converts a log record to one Sphinx expects
 
diff --git a/tests/test_util_logging.py b/tests/test_util_logging.py
index 7ca7bd655..717aa6cd4 100644
--- a/tests/test_util_logging.py
+++ b/tests/test_util_logging.py
@@ -272,3 +272,27 @@ def test_output_with_unencodable_char(app, status, warning):
     status.seek(0)
     logger.info(u"unicode \u206d...")
     assert status.getvalue() == "unicode ?...\n"
+
+
+def test_skip_warningiserror(app, status, warning):
+    logging.setup(app, status, warning)
+    logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+    app.warningiserror = True
+    with logging.skip_warningiserror():
+        logger.warning('message')
+
+    # if False, warning raises SphinxWarning exception
+    with pytest.raises(SphinxWarning):
+        with logging.skip_warningiserror(False):
+            logger.warning('message')
+
+    # It also works during pending_warnings.
+    with logging.pending_warnings():
+        with logging.skip_warningiserror():
+            logger.warning('message')
+
+    with pytest.raises(SphinxWarning):
+        with logging.pending_warnings():
+            with logging.skip_warningiserror(False):
+                logger.warning('message')