diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
index 35da49a..5d3f10e 100644
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # [5.0.0](https://github.com/TehShrike/deepmerge/releases/tag/v5.0.0)
 
+- Breaking: Cloning is not turned off by default
 - Breaking: Endpoint are now exported in esm style [#215](https://github.com/TehShrike/deepmerge/pull/215)
   - The main merge function is now a default export
   - The all merge function is now exported as "deepmergeAll" and is no longer a property on the main merge function.
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 26a5f14..27ee05b 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -251,11 +251,9 @@ result.pets // => ['Cat', 'Parrot', 'Dog']
 
 #### `clone`
 
-*Deprecated.*
+Defaults to `false`.
 
-Defaults to `true`.
-
-If `clone` is `false` then child objects will be copied directly instead of being cloned.  This was the default behavior before version 2.x.
+If `clone` is `true` then child objects will be cloned into the destination object instead of being directly copied. This was the default behavior before version 5.x.
 
 ## Testing
 
diff --git a/src/options.ts b/src/options.ts
index 48e3f88..5fc6df1 100644
--- a/src/options.ts
+++ b/src/options.ts
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ export type ObjectMerge<K = any> = (
 	key: K
 ) => ((target: any, source: any, options: FullOptions) => any) | undefined
 
-const defaultClone = true as const
+const defaultClone = false as const
 
 function defaultIsMergeable(value: unknown): value is Record<Property, unknown> | Array<unknown> {
 	return Array.isArray(value) || isPlainObj(value)