diff --git a/pkg/kstatus/polling/statusreaders/common.go b/pkg/kstatus/polling/statusreaders/common.go
index c780940d..83c803fa 100644
--- a/pkg/kstatus/polling/statusreaders/common.go
+++ b/pkg/kstatus/polling/statusreaders/common.go
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ func errResourceToResourceStatus(err error, resource *unstructured.Unstructured,
 	// If the error is from the context, we don't attach that to the ResourceStatus,
 	// but just return it directly so the caller can decide how to handle this
 	// situation.
-	if errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) || errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
+	if errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) || errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) || isRateLimiterContextDeadlineExceeded(err) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	identifier := object.UnstructuredToObjMetadata(resource)
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ func errIdentifierToResourceStatus(err error, identifier object.ObjMetadata) (*e
 	// If the error is from the context, we don't attach that to the ResourceStatus,
 	// but just return it directly so the caller can decide how to handle this
 	// situation.
-	if errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) || errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
+	if errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) || errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) || isRateLimiterContextDeadlineExceeded(err) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	if apierrors.IsNotFound(err) {
@@ -209,3 +209,20 @@ func errIdentifierToResourceStatus(err error, identifier object.ObjMetadata) (*e
 		Error:      err,
 	}, nil
 }
+
+// isRateLimiterContextDeadlineExceeded checks if the error is a rate limiter "would exceed context deadline" error
+// this allows us to treat it the same way as the context.Canceled and context.DeadlineExceeded errors
+// instead of attaching the error to the ResourceStatus, caller can decide how to handle this
+func isRateLimiterContextDeadlineExceeded(err error) bool {
+	for {
+		next := errors.Unwrap(err)
+		if next == nil {
+			break
+		}
+		err = next
+	}
+
+	// there's no dedicated error type for this, hence we check the error message
+	// https://cs.opensource.google/go/x/time/+/refs/tags/v0.10.0:rate/rate.go;l=276
+	return err != nil && err.Error() == "rate: Wait(n=1) would exceed context deadline"
+}
diff --git a/pkg/kstatus/polling/statusreaders/common_test.go b/pkg/kstatus/polling/statusreaders/common_test.go
index 2f98a4d3..aaaacd7f 100644
--- a/pkg/kstatus/polling/statusreaders/common_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kstatus/polling/statusreaders/common_test.go
@@ -76,6 +76,19 @@ func TestLookupResource(t *testing.T) {
 			expectErr:          true,
 			expectedErrMessage: context.Canceled.Error(),
 		},
+		"rate would exceed context deadline": {
+			identifier:         deploymentIdentifier,
+			readerErr:          fmt.Errorf("client rate limiter Wait returned an error: %w", fmt.Errorf("rate: Wait(n=1) would exceed context deadline")),
+			expectErr:          true,
+			expectedErrMessage: "client rate limiter Wait returned an error: rate: Wait(n=1) would exceed context deadline",
+		},
+		"rate would exceed context deadline wrapped error": {
+			identifier: deploymentIdentifier,
+			readerErr: fmt.Errorf("wrapped deeper: %w",
+				fmt.Errorf("client rate limiter Wait returned an error: %w", fmt.Errorf("rate: Wait(n=1) would exceed context deadline"))),
+			expectErr:          true,
+			expectedErrMessage: "wrapped deeper: client rate limiter Wait returned an error: rate: Wait(n=1) would exceed context deadline",
+		},
 	}
 
 	for tn, tc := range testCases {