diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb
index c75fb46263..b816ecae5a 100644
--- a/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb
@@ -644,46 +644,58 @@ module ActiveSupport #:nodoc:
       normalized = const.to_s.sub(/\A::/, '')
       normalized.sub!(/\A(Object::)+/, '')
 
-      constants   = normalized.split('::')
-      to_remove   = constants.pop
-      parent_name = constants.empty? ? 'Object' : constants.join('::')
+      constants = normalized.split('::')
+      to_remove = constants.pop
 
-      if parent = safe_constantize(parent_name)
-        log "removing constant #{const}"
+      if constants.empty?
+        parent = Object
+      else
+        # This method is robust to non-reachable constants.
+        #
+        # Non-reachable constants may be passed if some of the parents were
+        # autoloaded and already removed. It is easier to do a sanity check
+        # here than require the caller to be clever. We check the parent
+        # rather than the very const argument because we do not want to
+        # trigger Kernel#autoloads, see the comment below.
+        parent_name = constants.join('::')
+        return unless qualified_const_defined?(parent_name)
+        parent = constantize(parent_name)
+      end
 
-        # In an autoloaded user.rb like this
-        #
-        #   autoload :Foo, 'foo'
-        #
-        #   class User < ActiveRecord::Base
-        #   end
-        #
-        # we correctly register "Foo" as being autoloaded. But if the app does
-        # not use the "Foo" constant we need to be careful not to trigger
-        # loading "foo.rb" ourselves. While #const_defined? and #const_get? do
-        # require the file, #autoload? and #remove_const don't.
-        #
-        # We are going to remove the constant nonetheless ---which exists as
-        # far as Ruby is concerned--- because if the user removes the macro
-        # call from a class or module that were not autoloaded, as in the
-        # example above with Object, accessing to that constant must err.
-        unless parent.autoload?(to_remove)
-          begin
-            constantized = parent.const_get(to_remove, false)
-          rescue NameError
-            log "the constant #{const} is not reachable anymore, skipping"
-            return
-          else
-            constantized.before_remove_const if constantized.respond_to?(:before_remove_const)
-          end
-        end
+      log "removing constant #{const}"
 
+      # In an autoloaded user.rb like this
+      #
+      #   autoload :Foo, 'foo'
+      #
+      #   class User < ActiveRecord::Base
+      #   end
+      #
+      # we correctly register "Foo" as being autoloaded. But if the app does
+      # not use the "Foo" constant we need to be careful not to trigger
+      # loading "foo.rb" ourselves. While #const_defined? and #const_get? do
+      # require the file, #autoload? and #remove_const don't.
+      #
+      # We are going to remove the constant nonetheless ---which exists as
+      # far as Ruby is concerned--- because if the user removes the macro
+      # call from a class or module that were not autoloaded, as in the
+      # example above with Object, accessing to that constant must err.
+      unless parent.autoload?(to_remove)
         begin
-          parent.instance_eval { remove_const to_remove }
+          constantized = parent.const_get(to_remove, false)
         rescue NameError
           log "the constant #{const} is not reachable anymore, skipping"
+          return
+        else
+          constantized.before_remove_const if constantized.respond_to?(:before_remove_const)
         end
       end
+
+      begin
+        parent.instance_eval { remove_const to_remove }
+      rescue NameError
+        log "the constant #{const} is not reachable anymore, skipping"
+      end
     end
 
     protected
diff --git a/activesupport/test/dependencies_test.rb b/activesupport/test/dependencies_test.rb
index 67bd6669c5..7fea72dab5 100644
--- a/activesupport/test/dependencies_test.rb
+++ b/activesupport/test/dependencies_test.rb
@@ -938,6 +938,16 @@ class DependenciesTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     assert !defined?(ShouldNotBeAutoloaded)
   end
 
+  def test_remove_constant_does_not_autoload_already_removed_parents_as_a_side_effect
+    with_autoloading_fixtures do
+      ::A
+      ::A::B
+      ActiveSupport::Dependencies.remove_constant('A')
+      ActiveSupport::Dependencies.remove_constant('A::B')
+      assert !defined?(A)
+    end
+  end
+
   def test_load_once_constants_should_not_be_unloaded
     with_autoloading_fixtures do
       ActiveSupport::Dependencies.autoload_once_paths = ActiveSupport::Dependencies.autoload_paths