diff --git a/src/plugins/texteditor/semantichighlighter.cpp b/src/plugins/texteditor/semantichighlighter.cpp
index 9dded606ba5..17cfc1374bd 100644
--- a/src/plugins/texteditor/semantichighlighter.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/texteditor/semantichighlighter.cpp
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ void SemanticHighlighter::incrementalApplyExtraAdditionalFormats(
             if (nextBlockNumber != blockNumber)
                 break;
         }
-        highlighter->setExtraFormats(b, formats);
+        highlighter->setExtraFormats(b, std::move(formats));
         b = b.next();
         ++currentBlockNumber;
     }
diff --git a/src/plugins/texteditor/syntaxhighlighter.cpp b/src/plugins/texteditor/syntaxhighlighter.cpp
index 06802461350..8f7f1f153e6 100644
--- a/src/plugins/texteditor/syntaxhighlighter.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/texteditor/syntaxhighlighter.cpp
@@ -662,10 +662,10 @@ static bool byStartOfRange(const QTextLayout::FormatRange &range, const QTextLay
     return range.start < other.start;
 }
 
-// The formats is passed in by reference in order to prevent unnecessary copying of its items.
+// The formats is passed in by rvalue reference in order to prevent unnecessary copying of its items.
 // After this function returns, the list is modified, and should be considered invalidated!
 void SyntaxHighlighter::setExtraFormats(const QTextBlock &block,
-                                        QVector<QTextLayout::FormatRange> &formats)
+                                        QVector<QTextLayout::FormatRange> &&formats)
 {
     Q_D(SyntaxHighlighter);
 
diff --git a/src/plugins/texteditor/syntaxhighlighter.h b/src/plugins/texteditor/syntaxhighlighter.h
index f55b9f9f004..bbd23a77d41 100644
--- a/src/plugins/texteditor/syntaxhighlighter.h
+++ b/src/plugins/texteditor/syntaxhighlighter.h
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ public:
     void setDocument(QTextDocument *doc);
     QTextDocument *document() const;
 
-    void setExtraFormats(const QTextBlock &block, QVector<QTextLayout::FormatRange> &formats);
+    void setExtraFormats(const QTextBlock &block, QVector<QTextLayout::FormatRange> &&formats);
     void clearExtraFormats(const QTextBlock &block);
 
     static QList<QColor> generateColors(int n, const QColor &background);