diff --git a/scrapy/contrib/downloadermiddleware/retry.py b/scrapy/contrib/downloadermiddleware/retry.py
index 854dbb56a..51aa3df37 100644
--- a/scrapy/contrib/downloadermiddleware/retry.py
+++ b/scrapy/contrib/downloadermiddleware/retry.py
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ class RetryMiddleware(object):
         return response
 
     def process_exception(self, request, exception, spider):
-        if isinstance(exception, self.EXCEPTIONS_TO_RETRY):
+        if isinstance(exception, self.EXCEPTIONS_TO_RETRY) \
+                and 'dont_retry' not in request.meta:
             return self._retry(request, exception, spider)
 
     def _retry(self, request, reason, spider):
diff --git a/scrapy/tests/test_downloadermiddleware_retry.py b/scrapy/tests/test_downloadermiddleware_retry.py
index edb27da7b..11a3ccaba 100644
--- a/scrapy/tests/test_downloadermiddleware_retry.py
+++ b/scrapy/tests/test_downloadermiddleware_retry.py
@@ -35,6 +35,13 @@ class RetryTest(unittest.TestCase):
         r = self.mw.process_response(req, rsp, self.spider)
         assert r is rsp
 
+    def test_dont_retry_exc(self):
+        req = Request('http://www.scrapytest.org/503', meta={'dont_retry': True})
+        rsp = Response('http://www.scrapytest.org/503', body='', status=503)
+
+        r = self.mw.process_exception(req, DNSLookupError(), self.spider)
+        assert r is None
+
     def test_503(self):
         req = Request('http://www.scrapytest.org/503')
         rsp = Response('http://www.scrapytest.org/503', body='', status=503)