diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilder.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilder.java
index 13179a3a0b..ab8601b18c 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilder.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilder.java
@@ -533,7 +533,7 @@ public static class DelimitedBuilder<T> {
 
 		private FieldSetFactory fieldSetFactory = new DefaultFieldSetFactory();
 
-		private final boolean strict = true;
+		private boolean strict = true;
 
 		protected DelimitedBuilder(FlatFileItemReaderBuilder<T> parent) {
 			this.parent = parent;
@@ -609,6 +609,20 @@ public FlatFileItemReaderBuilder<T> names(String... names) {
 			return this.parent;
 		}
 
+		/**
+		 * If true (the default) then the number of tokens in line must match the number
+		 * of tokens defined (by {@link Range}, columns, etc.) in {@link LineTokenizer}.
+		 * If false then lines with less tokens will be tolerated and padded with empty
+		 * columns, and lines with more tokens will simply be truncated.
+		 *
+		 * @since 5.1
+		 * @param strict the strict flag to set
+		 */
+		public DelimitedBuilder<T> strict(boolean strict) {
+			this.strict = strict;
+			return this;
+		}
+
 		/**
 		 * Returns a {@link DelimitedLineTokenizer}
 		 * @return {@link DelimitedLineTokenizer}
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilderTests.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilderTests.java
index 90b11ef4cd..e6c6f6c2de 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilderTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilderTests.java
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
  * @author Michael Minella
  * @author Mahmoud Ben Hassine
  * @author Drummond Dawson
+ * @author Glenn Renfro
  */
 class FlatFileItemReaderBuilderTests {
 
@@ -215,6 +216,43 @@ void testStrict() throws Exception {
 		assertNull(reader.read());
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testDelimitedRelaxed() throws Exception {
+		FlatFileItemReader<Foo> reader = new FlatFileItemReaderBuilder<Foo>().name("fooReader")
+			.resource(getResource("1 2 3"))
+			.delimited()
+			.delimiter(" ")
+			.strict(false)
+			.names("first", "second")
+			.targetType(Foo.class)
+			.build();
+
+		reader.open(new ExecutionContext());
+		Foo item = reader.read();
+		assertEquals(1, item.getFirst());
+		assertEquals(2, item.getSecond());
+		assertNull(item.getThird());
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testDelimitedStrict() {
+		FlatFileItemReader<Foo> reader = new FlatFileItemReaderBuilder<Foo>().name("fooReader")
+			.resource(getResource("1 2 3"))
+			.delimited()
+			.delimiter(" ")
+			.strict(true)
+			.names("first", "second")
+			.targetType(Foo.class)
+			.build();
+
+		reader.open(new ExecutionContext());
+
+		Exception exception = assertThrows(RuntimeException.class, reader::read);
+		String expectedMessage = "Parsing error at line: 1 in resource=[Byte array resource [resource loaded from byte array]], input=[1 2 3]";
+		String actualMessage = exception.getMessage();
+		assertTrue(actualMessage.contains(expectedMessage));
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	void testCustomLineTokenizerFieldSetMapper() throws Exception {
 		FlatFileItemReader<Foo> reader = new FlatFileItemReaderBuilder<Foo>().name("fooReader")