diff --git a/model/fieldtypes/StringField.php b/model/fieldtypes/StringField.php
index ce79b69ed..e489c7d17 100644
--- a/model/fieldtypes/StringField.php
+++ b/model/fieldtypes/StringField.php
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ abstract class StringField extends DBField {
 	 */
 	private static $casting = array(
 		"LimitCharacters" => "Text",
+		"LimitCharactersToClosestWord" => "Text",
 		'LimitWordCount' => 'Text',
 		'LimitWordCountXML' => 'HTMLText',
 		"LowerCase" => "Text",
@@ -116,7 +117,6 @@ abstract class StringField extends DBField {
 	 */
 	public function LimitCharacters($limit = 20, $add = '...') {
 		$value = trim($this->value);
-
 		if($this->stat('escape_type') == 'xml') {
 			$value = strip_tags($value);
 			$value = html_entity_decode($value, ENT_COMPAT, 'UTF-8');
@@ -126,11 +126,40 @@ abstract class StringField extends DBField {
 		} else {
 			$value = (mb_strlen($value) > $limit) ? mb_substr($value, 0, $limit) . $add : $value;
 		}
+		return $value;
+	}
+    
+	/**
+	 * Limit this field's content by a number of characters and truncate
+	 * the field to the closest complete word. All HTML tags are stripped 
+	 * from the field.
+	 *
+	 * @param int $limit Number of characters to limit by
+	 * @param string $add Ellipsis to add to the end of truncated string
+	 * @return string
+	 */
+	public function LimitCharactersToClosestWord($limit = 20, $add = '...') {
+		// Strip HTML tags if they exist in the field
+		$this->value = strip_tags($this->value);
+
+		// Determine if value exceeds limit before limiting characters
+		$exceedsLimit = mb_strlen($this->value) > $limit;
+
+		// Limit to character limit
+		$value = $this->LimitCharacters($limit, '');
+
+		// If value exceeds limit, strip punctuation off the end to the last space and apply ellipsis
+		if($exceedsLimit) {
+			$value = html_entity_decode($value, ENT_COMPAT, 'UTF-8');
+
+			$value = rtrim(mb_substr($value, 0, mb_strrpos($value, " ")), "/[\.,-\/#!$%\^&\*;:{}=\-_`~()]\s") . $add;
+
+			$value = htmlspecialchars($value, ENT_COMPAT, 'UTF-8');
+		}
 
 		return $value;
 	}
 
-
 	/**
 	 * Limit this field's content by a number of words.
 	 *
diff --git a/tests/model/TextTest.php b/tests/model/TextTest.php
index ccd6b845d..05bfd2b7c 100644
--- a/tests/model/TextTest.php
+++ b/tests/model/TextTest.php
@@ -21,6 +21,35 @@ class TextTest extends SapphireTest {
 		}
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Test {@link Text->LimitCharactersToClosestWord()}
+	 */
+	public function testLimitCharactersToClosestWord() {
+		$cases = array(
+			/* Standard words limited, ellipsis added if truncated */
+			'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet' => 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit...',
+
+			/* Complete words less than the character limit don't get truncated, ellipsis not added */
+			'Lorem ipsum' => 'Lorem ipsum',
+			'Lorem' => 'Lorem',
+			'' => '',	// No words produces nothing!
+
+			/* HTML tags get stripped out, leaving the raw text */
+			'<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet</p>' => 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit...',
+			'<p><span>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet</span></p>' => 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit...',
+			'<p>Lorem ipsum</p>' => 'Lorem ipsum',
+
+			/* HTML entities are treated as a single character */
+			'Lorem &amp; ipsum dolor sit amet' => 'Lorem &amp; ipsum dolor...'
+		);
+
+		foreach($cases as $originalValue => $expectedValue) {
+			$textObj = new Text('Test');
+			$textObj->setValue($originalValue);
+			$this->assertEquals($expectedValue, $textObj->LimitCharactersToClosestWord(24));
+		}
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Test {@link Text->LimitWordCount()}
 	 */