diff --git a/doc/release-notes-21056.md b/doc/release-notes-21056.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..2201a8cdaefd7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/release-notes-21056.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+New bitcoin-cli settings
+------------------------
+
+- A new `-rpcwaittimeout` argument to `bitcoin-cli` sets the timeout
+  in seconds to use with `-rpcwait`. If the timeout expires,
+  `bitcoin-cli` will report a failure. (#21056)
diff --git a/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp b/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp
index 9c2e0518b290e6..91a06ea7a199f6 100644
--- a/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp
+++ b/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ UrlDecodeFn* const URL_DECODE = urlDecode;
 
 static const char DEFAULT_RPCCONNECT[] = "127.0.0.1";
 static const int DEFAULT_HTTP_CLIENT_TIMEOUT=900;
+static constexpr int DEFAULT_WAIT_CLIENT_TIMEOUT = 0;
 static const bool DEFAULT_NAMED=false;
 static const int CONTINUE_EXECUTION=-1;
 
@@ -69,6 +70,7 @@ static void SetupCliArgs(ArgsManager& argsman)
     argsman.AddArg("-rpcuser=<user>", "Username for JSON-RPC connections", ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
     argsman.AddArg("-rpcwait", "Wait for RPC server to start", ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
     argsman.AddArg("-rpcwallet=<walletname>", "Send RPC for non-default wallet on RPC server (needs to exactly match corresponding -wallet option passed to dashd). This changes the RPC endpoint used, e.g. http://127.0.0.1:9998/wallet/<walletname>", ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
+    argsman.AddArg("-rpcwaittimeout=<n>", strprintf("Timeout in seconds to wait for the RPC server to start, or 0 for no timeout. (default: %d)", DEFAULT_WAIT_CLIENT_TIMEOUT), ArgsManager::ALLOW_INT, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
     argsman.AddArg("-stdin", "Read extra arguments from standard input, one per line until EOF/Ctrl-D (recommended for sensitive information such as passphrases). When combined with -stdinrpcpass, the first line from standard input is used for the RPC password.", ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
     argsman.AddArg("-stdinrpcpass", "Read RPC password from standard input as a single line. When combined with -stdin, the first line from standard input is used for the RPC password. When combined with -stdinwalletpassphrase, -stdinrpcpass consumes the first line, and -stdinwalletpassphrase consumes the second.", ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
     argsman.AddArg("-stdinwalletpassphrase", "Read wallet passphrase from standard input as a single line. When combined with -stdin, the first line from standard input is used for the wallet passphrase.", ArgsManager::ALLOW_ANY, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
@@ -705,6 +707,9 @@ static UniValue ConnectAndCallRPC(BaseRequestHandler* rh, const std::string& str
     UniValue response(UniValue::VOBJ);
     // Execute and handle connection failures with -rpcwait.
     const bool fWait = gArgs.GetBoolArg("-rpcwait", false);
+    const int timeout = gArgs.GetArg("-rpcwaittimeout", DEFAULT_WAIT_CLIENT_TIMEOUT);
+    const int64_t deadline = GetTime<std::chrono::seconds>().count() + timeout;
+
     do {
         try {
             response = CallRPC(rh, strMethod, args, rpcwallet);
@@ -715,11 +720,12 @@ static UniValue ConnectAndCallRPC(BaseRequestHandler* rh, const std::string& str
                 }
             }
             break; // Connection succeeded, no need to retry.
-        } catch (const CConnectionFailed&) {
-            if (fWait) {
-                UninterruptibleSleep(std::chrono::milliseconds{1000});
+        } catch (const CConnectionFailed& e) {
+            const int64_t now = GetTime<std::chrono::seconds>().count();
+            if (fWait && (timeout <= 0 || now < deadline)) {
+                UninterruptibleSleep(std::chrono::seconds{1});
             } else {
-                throw;
+                throw CConnectionFailed(strprintf("timeout on transient error: %s", e.what()));
             }
         }
     } while (fWait);
diff --git a/test/functional/interface_bitcoin_cli.py b/test/functional/interface_bitcoin_cli.py
index 19488b6fc126bf..a957d8f501b9af 100755
--- a/test/functional/interface_bitcoin_cli.py
+++ b/test/functional/interface_bitcoin_cli.py
@@ -10,10 +10,12 @@
 from test_framework.test_framework import BitcoinTestFramework
 from test_framework.util import (
     assert_equal,
+    assert_greater_than_or_equal,
     assert_raises_process_error,
     assert_raises_rpc_error,
     get_auth_cookie,
 )
+import time
 
 # The block reward of coinbaseoutput.nValue (500) DASH/block matures after
 # COINBASE_MATURITY (100) blocks. Therefore, after mining 101 blocks we expect
@@ -247,6 +249,12 @@ def run_test(self):
         self.nodes[0].wait_for_rpc_connection()
         assert_equal(blocks, BLOCKS + 25)
 
+        self.log.info("Test -rpcwait option waits at most -rpcwaittimeout seconds for startup")
+        self.stop_node(0)  # stop the node so we time out
+        start_time = time.time()
+        assert_raises_process_error(1, "Could not connect to the server", self.nodes[0].cli('-rpcwait', '-rpcwaittimeout=5').echo)
+        assert_greater_than_or_equal(time.time(), start_time + 5)
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     TestBitcoinCli().main()