diff --git a/clang-tools-extra/clang-tidy/readability/RedundantInlineSpecifierCheck.cpp b/clang-tools-extra/clang-tidy/readability/RedundantInlineSpecifierCheck.cpp
index 1693e5c5e9cd4..33effb3dab977 100644
--- a/clang-tools-extra/clang-tidy/readability/RedundantInlineSpecifierCheck.cpp
+++ b/clang-tools-extra/clang-tidy/readability/RedundantInlineSpecifierCheck.cpp
@@ -72,11 +72,13 @@ static SourceLocation getInlineTokenLocation(SourceRange RangeLocation,
 }
 
 void RedundantInlineSpecifierCheck::registerMatchers(MatchFinder *Finder) {
+  const auto IsPartOfRecordDecl = hasAncestor(recordDecl());
   Finder->addMatcher(
       functionDecl(isInlineSpecified(),
-                   anyOf(isConstexpr(), isDeleted(), isDefaulted(),
+                   anyOf(isConstexpr(), isDeleted(),
+                         allOf(isDefaulted(), IsPartOfRecordDecl),
                          isInternalLinkage(StrictMode),
-                         allOf(isDefinition(), hasAncestor(recordDecl()))))
+                         allOf(isDefinition(), IsPartOfRecordDecl)))
           .bind("fun_decl"),
       this);
 
@@ -88,7 +90,6 @@ void RedundantInlineSpecifierCheck::registerMatchers(MatchFinder *Finder) {
         this);
 
   if (getLangOpts().CPlusPlus17) {
-    const auto IsPartOfRecordDecl = hasAncestor(recordDecl());
     Finder->addMatcher(
         varDecl(
             isInlineSpecified(),
diff --git a/clang-tools-extra/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst b/clang-tools-extra/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst
index 761c1d3a80359..8fed96ceef647 100644
--- a/clang-tools-extra/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst
+++ b/clang-tools-extra/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst
@@ -204,6 +204,10 @@ Changes in existing checks
   tolerating fix-it breaking compilation when functions is used as pointers
   to avoid matching usage of functions within the current compilation unit.
 
+- Improved :doc:`readability-redundant-inline-specifier
+  <clang-tidy/checks/readability/redundant-inline-specifier>` check by fixing
+  false positives on out-of-line explicitly defaulted functions.
+
 Removed checks
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
diff --git a/clang-tools-extra/test/clang-tidy/checkers/readability/redundant-inline-specifier.cpp b/clang-tools-extra/test/clang-tidy/checkers/readability/redundant-inline-specifier.cpp
index 14f9e88f7e721..882ce640b13c1 100644
--- a/clang-tools-extra/test/clang-tidy/checkers/readability/redundant-inline-specifier.cpp
+++ b/clang-tools-extra/test/clang-tidy/checkers/readability/redundant-inline-specifier.cpp
@@ -149,3 +149,13 @@ class A
   // CHECK-FIXES-STRICT: static float test4;
 };
 }
+
+namespace ns {
+class B
+{
+public:
+  ~B();
+};
+
+inline B::~B() = default;
+}