diff --git a/packages/eslint-plugin/tests/rules/no-unused-vars/no-unused-vars-eslint.test.ts b/packages/eslint-plugin/tests/rules/no-unused-vars/no-unused-vars-eslint.test.ts
index d05d538d2731..4573260c3271 100644
--- a/packages/eslint-plugin/tests/rules/no-unused-vars/no-unused-vars-eslint.test.ts
+++ b/packages/eslint-plugin/tests/rules/no-unused-vars/no-unused-vars-eslint.test.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import type { TestCaseError } from '@typescript-eslint/rule-tester';
 import type { TSESTree } from '@typescript-eslint/utils';
 
 import { RuleTester } from '@typescript-eslint/rule-tester';
-import { AST_NODE_TYPES } from '@typescript-eslint/utils';
 
 import type { MessageIds } from '../../../src/rules/no-unused-vars';
 
@@ -88,13 +87,11 @@ function assignedError(
  * Returns an expected error for used-but-ignored variables.
  * @param varName The name of the variable
  * @param [additional] The additional text for the message data
- * @param [type] The node type (defaults to "Identifier")
  * @returns An expected error object
  */
 function usedIgnoredError(
   varName: string,
   additional = '',
-  type = AST_NODE_TYPES.Identifier,
 ): TestCaseError<MessageIds> {
   return {
     data: {
@@ -102,7 +99,6 @@ function usedIgnoredError(
       varName,
     },
     messageId: 'usedIgnoredVar',
-    type,
   };
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/rule-tester/src/RuleTester.ts b/packages/rule-tester/src/RuleTester.ts
index bd0d8cede4eb..723bc6b17227 100644
--- a/packages/rule-tester/src/RuleTester.ts
+++ b/packages/rule-tester/src/RuleTester.ts
@@ -1102,14 +1102,6 @@ export class RuleTester extends TestFramework {
             );
           }
 
-          if (error.type) {
-            assert.strictEqual(
-              message.nodeType,
-              error.type,
-              `Error type should be ${error.type}, found ${message.nodeType}`,
-            );
-          }
-
           if (hasOwnProperty(error, 'line')) {
             assert.strictEqual(
               message.line,
diff --git a/packages/rule-tester/src/types/InvalidTestCase.ts b/packages/rule-tester/src/types/InvalidTestCase.ts
index 73e8f48a6771..f5ba876c8510 100644
--- a/packages/rule-tester/src/types/InvalidTestCase.ts
+++ b/packages/rule-tester/src/types/InvalidTestCase.ts
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ export interface TestCaseError<MessageIds extends string> {
    */
   readonly suggestions?: readonly SuggestionOutput<MessageIds>[] | null;
   /**
-   * The type of the reported AST node.
+   * @deprecated `type` is deprecated and will be removed in the next major version.
    */
   readonly type?: AST_NODE_TYPES | AST_TOKEN_TYPES;
 
diff --git a/packages/rule-tester/tests/RuleTester.test.ts b/packages/rule-tester/tests/RuleTester.test.ts
index 73a5a05d45cf..b7a276c69e4c 100644
--- a/packages/rule-tester/tests/RuleTester.test.ts
+++ b/packages/rule-tester/tests/RuleTester.test.ts
@@ -144,7 +144,6 @@ describe(RuleTester, () => {
                 line: 0,
                 message: 'error',
                 messageId: 'error',
-                nodeType: AST_NODE_TYPES.Program,
                 ruleId: 'my-rule',
                 severity: 2,
                 source: null,
diff --git a/packages/utils/src/ts-eslint/Linter.ts b/packages/utils/src/ts-eslint/Linter.ts
index 499213d95f3b..7bbb2b316445 100644
--- a/packages/utils/src/ts-eslint/Linter.ts
+++ b/packages/utils/src/ts-eslint/Linter.ts
@@ -229,7 +229,10 @@ namespace Linter {
      */
     message: string;
     messageId?: string;
-    nodeType: string;
+    /**
+     * @deprecated `nodeType` is deprecated and will be removed in the next major version.
+     */
+    nodeType?: string;
     /**
      * The ID of the rule which makes this message.
      */
diff --git a/packages/website/src/components/linter/createLinter.ts b/packages/website/src/components/linter/createLinter.ts
index eefd1b0e4287..c9c83aa2a34f 100644
--- a/packages/website/src/components/linter/createLinter.ts
+++ b/packages/website/src/components/linter/createLinter.ts
@@ -94,7 +94,6 @@ export function createLinter(
         column: 1,
         line: 1,
         message: String(e instanceof Error ? e.stack : e),
-        nodeType: '',
         ruleId: '',
         severity: 2,
         source: 'eslint',