diff --git a/src/Mixins/Expectation.php b/src/Mixins/Expectation.php
index 3fbd2110..5823d61c 100644
--- a/src/Mixins/Expectation.php
+++ b/src/Mixins/Expectation.php
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ namespace Pest\Mixins;
 
 use BadMethodCallException;
 use Closure;
+use Error;
 use InvalidArgumentException;
 use Pest\Exceptions\InvalidExpectationValue;
 use Pest\Support\Arr;
@@ -822,8 +823,12 @@ final class Expectation
 
         try {
             ($this->value)();
-        } catch (Throwable $e) { // @phpstan-ignore-line
+        } catch (Throwable $e) {
             if (!class_exists($exception)) {
+                if ($e instanceof Error && $e->getMessage() === "Class \"$exception\" not found") {
+                    throw $e;
+                }
+
                 Assert::assertStringContainsString($exception, $e->getMessage());
 
                 return $this;
diff --git a/tests/Features/Expect/toThrow.php b/tests/Features/Expect/toThrow.php
index 434ced44..b5c66abf 100644
--- a/tests/Features/Expect/toThrow.php
+++ b/tests/Features/Expect/toThrow.php
@@ -58,3 +58,19 @@ test('closure missing parameter', function () {
 test('closure missing type-hint', function () {
     expect(function () {})->toThrow(function ($e) {});
 })->throws(InvalidArgumentException::class, 'The given closure\'s parameter must be type-hinted as the class string.');
+
+it('can handle a non-defined exception', function () {
+    expect(function () {
+        throw new NonExistingException();
+    })->toThrow(NonExistingException::class);
+})->throws(Error::class, 'Class "NonExistingException" not found');
+
+it('can handle a class not found Error', function () {
+    expect(function () {
+        throw new NonExistingException();
+    })->toThrow('Class "NonExistingException" not found');
+
+    expect(function () {
+        throw new NonExistingException();
+    })->toThrow(Error::class, 'Class "NonExistingException" not found');
+});