diff --git a/doc/usage/configuration.rst b/doc/usage/configuration.rst
index 7b7a0a1d4..95a4b6267 100644
--- a/doc/usage/configuration.rst
+++ b/doc/usage/configuration.rst
@@ -419,6 +419,20 @@ General configuration
 
    .. versionadded:: 1.1
 
+.. confval:: nitpick_ignore_regex
+
+   An extended version of :confval:`nitpick_ignore`, which instead interprets
+   the ``type`` and ``target`` strings as regular expressions. Note, that the
+   regular expression must match the whole string (as if the ``^`` and ``$``
+   markers were inserted).
+
+   For example, ``(r'py:.*', r'foo.*bar\.B.*')`` will ignore nitpicky warnings
+   for all python entities that start with ``'foo'`` and have ``'bar.B'`` in
+   them, such as ``('py:const', 'foo_package.bar.BAZ_VALUE')`` or
+   ``('py:class', 'food.bar.Barman')``.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 4.1
+
 .. confval:: numfig
 
    If true, figures, tables and code-blocks are automatically numbered if they
diff --git a/sphinx/config.py b/sphinx/config.py
index 5e265f576..1ba98d007 100644
--- a/sphinx/config.py
+++ b/sphinx/config.py
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ class Config:
         'manpages_url': (None, 'env', []),
         'nitpicky': (False, None, []),
         'nitpick_ignore': ([], None, []),
+        'nitpick_ignore_regex': ([], None, []),
         'numfig': (False, 'env', []),
         'numfig_secnum_depth': (1, 'env', []),
         'numfig_format': ({}, 'env', []),  # will be initialized in init_numfig_format()
diff --git a/sphinx/transforms/post_transforms/__init__.py b/sphinx/transforms/post_transforms/__init__.py
index e2899d994..281407983 100644
--- a/sphinx/transforms/post_transforms/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/transforms/post_transforms/__init__.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
     :license: BSD, see LICENSE for details.
 """
 
+import re
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Tuple, Type, cast
 
 from docutils import nodes
@@ -171,14 +172,27 @@ class ReferencesResolver(SphinxPostTransform):
         warn = node.get('refwarn')
         if self.config.nitpicky:
             warn = True
+            dtype = '%s:%s' % (domain.name, typ) if domain else typ
             if self.config.nitpick_ignore:
-                dtype = '%s:%s' % (domain.name, typ) if domain else typ
                 if (dtype, target) in self.config.nitpick_ignore:
                     warn = False
                 # for "std" types also try without domain name
                 if (not domain or domain.name == 'std') and \
                    (typ, target) in self.config.nitpick_ignore:
                     warn = False
+            if self.config.nitpick_ignore_regex:
+                def matches_ignore(entry_type: str, entry_target: str) -> bool:
+                    for ignore_type, ignore_target in self.config.nitpick_ignore_regex:
+                        if re.fullmatch(ignore_type, entry_type) and \
+                           re.fullmatch(ignore_target, entry_target):
+                            return True
+                    return False
+                if matches_ignore(dtype, target):
+                    warn = False
+                # for "std" types also try without domain name
+                if (not domain or domain.name == 'std') and \
+                   matches_ignore(typ, target):
+                    warn = False
         if not warn:
             return
 
diff --git a/tests/roots/test-nitpicky-warnings/conf.py b/tests/roots/test-nitpicky-warnings/conf.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2db221cc6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/roots/test-nitpicky-warnings/conf.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+nitpicky = True
diff --git a/tests/roots/test-nitpicky-warnings/index.rst b/tests/roots/test-nitpicky-warnings/index.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e73840d4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/roots/test-nitpicky-warnings/index.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+test-nitpicky-warnings
+======================
+
+:py:const:`prefix.anything.postfix`
+:py:class:`prefix.anything`
+:py:class:`anything.postfix`
+:js:class:`prefix.anything.postfix`
diff --git a/tests/test_config.py b/tests/test_config.py
index a48e7ce30..b9b4f612a 100644
--- a/tests/test_config.py
+++ b/tests/test_config.py
@@ -311,3 +311,77 @@ def test_check_enum_for_list_failed(logger):
     config.init_values()
     check_confval_types(None, config)
     assert logger.warning.called
+
+
+nitpick_warnings = [
+    "WARNING: py:const reference target not found: prefix.anything.postfix",
+    "WARNING: py:class reference target not found: prefix.anything",
+    "WARNING: py:class reference target not found: anything.postfix",
+    "WARNING: js:class reference target not found: prefix.anything.postfix",
+]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.sphinx(testroot='nitpicky-warnings')
+def test_nitpick_base(app, status, warning):
+    app.builder.build_all()
+
+    warning = warning.getvalue().strip().split('\n')
+    assert len(warning) == len(nitpick_warnings)
+    for actual, expected in zip(warning, nitpick_warnings):
+        assert expected in actual
+
+
+@pytest.mark.sphinx(testroot='nitpicky-warnings', confoverrides={
+    'nitpick_ignore': [
+        ('py:const', 'prefix.anything.postfix'),
+        ('py:class', 'prefix.anything'),
+        ('py:class', 'anything.postfix'),
+        ('js:class', 'prefix.anything.postfix'),
+    ],
+})
+def test_nitpick_ignore(app, status, warning):
+    app.builder.build_all()
+    assert not len(warning.getvalue().strip())
+
+
+@pytest.mark.sphinx(testroot='nitpicky-warnings', confoverrides={
+    'nitpick_ignore_regex': [
+        (r'py:.*', r'.*postfix'),
+        (r'.*:class', r'prefix.*'),
+    ]
+})
+def test_nitpick_ignore_regex1(app, status, warning):
+    app.builder.build_all()
+    assert not len(warning.getvalue().strip())
+
+
+@pytest.mark.sphinx(testroot='nitpicky-warnings', confoverrides={
+    'nitpick_ignore_regex': [
+        (r'py:.*', r'prefix.*'),
+        (r'.*:class', r'.*postfix'),
+    ]
+})
+def test_nitpick_ignore_regex2(app, status, warning):
+    app.builder.build_all()
+    assert not len(warning.getvalue().strip())
+
+
+@pytest.mark.sphinx(testroot='nitpicky-warnings', confoverrides={
+    'nitpick_ignore_regex': [
+        # None of these should match
+        (r'py:', r'.*'),
+        (r':class', r'.*'),
+        (r'', r'.*'),
+        (r'.*', r'anything'),
+        (r'.*', r'prefix'),
+        (r'.*', r'postfix'),
+        (r'.*', r''),
+    ]
+})
+def test_nitpick_ignore_regex_fullmatch(app, status, warning):
+    app.builder.build_all()
+
+    warning = warning.getvalue().strip().split('\n')
+    assert len(warning) == len(nitpick_warnings)
+    for actual, expected in zip(warning, nitpick_warnings):
+        assert expected in actual