diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/router.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/router.ts
index 5c58ff8646..1446bddbf2 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/router.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/router.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import { hasProtocol, joinURL, parseURL } from 'ufo'
 
 import { useNuxtApp, useRuntimeConfig } from '../nuxt'
 import type { NuxtError } from './error'
-import { createError } from './error'
+import { createError, showError } from './error'
 import { useState } from './state'
 
 import type { PageMeta } from '#app'
@@ -155,10 +155,16 @@ export const abortNavigation = (err?: string | Partial<NuxtError>) => {
   if (process.dev && !isProcessingMiddleware()) {
     throw new Error('abortNavigation() is only usable inside a route middleware handler.')
   }
-  if (err) {
-    throw createError(err)
+
+  if (!err) { return false }
+
+  err = createError(err)
+
+  if (err.fatal) {
+    useNuxtApp().runWithContext(() => showError(err as NuxtError))
   }
-  return false
+
+  throw err
 }
 
 export const setPageLayout = (layout: string) => {
diff --git a/test/basic.test.ts b/test/basic.test.ts
index e221b84436..c44f5569d0 100644
--- a/test/basic.test.ts
+++ b/test/basic.test.ts
@@ -710,6 +710,14 @@ describe('middlewares', () => {
     expect(res.status).toEqual(401)
   })
 
+  it('should allow aborting navigation fatally on client-side', async () => {
+    const html = await $fetch('/middleware-abort')
+    expect(html).not.toContain('This is the error page')
+    const page = await createPage('/middleware-abort')
+    await page.waitForLoadState('networkidle')
+    expect(await page.innerHTML('body')).toContain('This is the error page')
+  })
+
   it('should inject auth', async () => {
     const html = await $fetch('/auth')
 
diff --git a/test/fixtures/basic/pages/middleware-abort.vue b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/middleware-abort.vue
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bb97403eb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/middleware-abort.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+<script setup lang="ts">
+definePageMeta({
+  middleware: () => {
+    if (process.server || useNuxtApp().isHydrating) { return }
+    return abortNavigation({
+      fatal: true
+    })
+  }
+})
+const router = useRouter()
+onNuxtReady(() => router.push({ path: '/middleware-abort', force: true }))
+</script>
+
+<template>
+  <div>
+    <!--  -->
+  </div>
+</template>