diff --git a/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication.cpp b/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication.cpp
index 61a8b6a18c..100e014e99 100644
--- a/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication.cpp
+++ b/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication.cpp
@@ -317,6 +317,13 @@ struct QCoreApplicationData {
     ~QCoreApplicationData() {
 #ifndef QT_NO_LIBRARY
         delete app_libpaths;
+#endif
+#ifndef QT_NO_QOBJECT
+        // cleanup the QAdoptedThread created for the main() thread
+        if (QCoreApplicationPrivate::theMainThread) {
+            QThreadData *data = QThreadData::get2(QCoreApplicationPrivate::theMainThread);
+            data->deref(); // deletes the data and the adopted thread
+        }
 #endif
     }