diff --git a/src/corelib/text/qstringfwd.h b/src/corelib/text/qstringfwd.h
index 374a8ff3cbe..aefac03b416 100644
--- a/src/corelib/text/qstringfwd.h
+++ b/src/corelib/text/qstringfwd.h
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ class QLatin1String;
 using QLatin1StringView = QLatin1String;
 #endif
 class QString;
+class QStringRef; // defined in qt5compat
 class QStringView;
 template <bool> class QBasicUtf8StringView;
 class QAnyStringView;
diff --git a/src/corelib/text/qstringview.h b/src/corelib/text/qstringview.h
index b050a9aef7c..454dd1fdad9 100644
--- a/src/corelib/text/qstringview.h
+++ b/src/corelib/text/qstringview.h
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ struct IsContainerCompatibleWithQStringView<T, std::enable_if_t<std::conjunction
 
             // These need to be treated specially due to the empty vs null distinction
             std::negation<std::is_same<std::decay_t<T>, QString>>,
+#define QSTRINGVIEW_REFUSES_QSTRINGREF 1
+            std::negation<std::is_same<q20::remove_cvref_t<T>, QStringRef>>, // QStringRef::op QStringView()
 
             // Don't make an accidental copy constructor
             std::negation<std::is_same<std::decay_t<T>, QStringView>>