diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 906fa1e409..bfa8bf97aa 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 	<groupId>org.springframework.data</groupId>
 	<artifactId>spring-data-jpa</artifactId>
-	<version>2.7.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+	<version>2.7.0-GH-2176-SNAPSHOT</version>
 
 	<name>Spring Data JPA</name>
 	<description>Spring Data module for JPA repositories.</description>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/convert/QueryByExamplePredicateBuilder.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/convert/QueryByExamplePredicateBuilder.java
index be9b899d80..a21726af93 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/convert/QueryByExamplePredicateBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/convert/QueryByExamplePredicateBuilder.java
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@
  * @author Mark Paluch
  * @author Oliver Gierke
  * @author Jens Schauder
+ * @author Greg Turnquist
  * @since 1.10
  */
 public class QueryByExamplePredicateBuilder {
@@ -146,6 +147,10 @@ static List<Predicate> getPredicates(String path, CriteriaBuilder cb, Path<?> fr
 
 			Object attributeValue = optionalValue.get();
 
+			if (attributeValue == Optional.empty()) {
+				continue;
+			}
+
 			if (attribute.getPersistentAttributeType().equals(PersistentAttributeType.EMBEDDED)
 					|| (isAssociation(attribute) && !(from instanceof From))) {
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/domain/sample/UserWithOptionalField.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/domain/sample/UserWithOptionalField.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0c8f7593fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/domain/sample/UserWithOptionalField.java
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2008-2022 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.sample;
+
+import lombok.Data;
+
+import java.util.Optional;
+
+import javax.persistence.Entity;
+import javax.persistence.GeneratedValue;
+import javax.persistence.Id;
+
+import org.springframework.lang.Nullable;
+
+/**
+ * @author Greg Turnquist
+ */
+@Entity
+@Data
+public class UserWithOptionalField {
+
+	@Id @GeneratedValue private Long id;
+	private String name;
+	private String role;
+
+	public UserWithOptionalField() {
+
+		this.id = null;
+		this.name = null;
+		this.role = null;
+	}
+
+	public UserWithOptionalField(String name, @Nullable String role) {
+
+		this();
+		this.name = name;
+		this.role = role;
+	}
+
+	public Optional<String> getRole() {
+		return Optional.ofNullable(this.role);
+	}
+
+	public void setRole(Optional<String> role) {
+		this.role = role.orElse(null);
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/domain/sample/UserWithOptionalFieldRepository.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/domain/sample/UserWithOptionalFieldRepository.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..edf5f9d2ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/domain/sample/UserWithOptionalFieldRepository.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2008-2022 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.sample;
+
+import org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.JpaRepository;
+
+/**
+ * @author Greg Turnquist
+ */
+public interface UserWithOptionalFieldRepository extends JpaRepository<UserWithOptionalField, Long> {}
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/domain/support/QueryByExampleWithOptionalEmptyTests.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/domain/support/QueryByExampleWithOptionalEmptyTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..59d6080227
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/jpa/domain/support/QueryByExampleWithOptionalEmptyTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2008-2022 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.support;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.*;
+
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Optional;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.ExtendWith;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.ImportResource;
+import org.springframework.data.domain.Example;
+import org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.sample.UserWithOptionalField;
+import org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.sample.UserWithOptionalFieldRepository;
+import org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.config.EnableJpaRepositories;
+import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
+import org.springframework.test.context.junit.jupiter.SpringExtension;
+
+/**
+ * Integration test for {@link org.springframework.data.repository.query.QueryByExampleExecutor} involving
+ * {@link Optional#empty()}.
+ *
+ * @author Greg Turnquist
+ */
+@ExtendWith(SpringExtension.class)
+@ContextConfiguration
+public class QueryByExampleWithOptionalEmptyTests {
+
+	@Autowired UserWithOptionalFieldRepository repository;
+	UserWithOptionalField user;
+
+	@Test
+	void queryByExampleTreatsEmptyOptionalsLikeNulls() {
+
+		// given
+		UserWithOptionalField user = new UserWithOptionalField();
+		user.setName("Greg");
+		repository.saveAndFlush(user);
+
+		// when
+		UserWithOptionalField probe = new UserWithOptionalField();
+		probe.setName("Greg");
+		Example<UserWithOptionalField> example = Example.of(probe);
+
+		// then
+		List<UserWithOptionalField> results = repository.findAll(example);
+
+		assertThat(results).hasSize(1);
+		assertThat(results).extracting(UserWithOptionalField::getName).containsExactly("Greg");
+	}
+
+	@Configuration
+	@EnableJpaRepositories(basePackageClasses = UserWithOptionalFieldRepository.class)
+	@ImportResource("classpath:infrastructure.xml")
+	static class JpaRepositoryConfig {}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/test/resources/META-INF/persistence.xml b/src/test/resources/META-INF/persistence.xml
index d5fbd08bc8..4932fb86a9 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/META-INF/persistence.xml
+++ b/src/test/resources/META-INF/persistence.xml
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
 		<class>org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.sample.Site</class>
 		<class>org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.sample.SpecialUser</class>
 		<class>org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.sample.User</class>
+		<class>org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.sample.UserWithOptionalField</class>
 		<class>org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.sample.VersionedUser</class>
 		<class>org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.sample.Dummy</class>
 		<class>org.springframework.data.jpa.domain.sample.SampleWithIdClassIncludingEntity</class>