diff --git a/azure-pipelines.yml b/azure-pipelines.yml
index 4a47194cbf38..1c3b06ffbd9f 100644
--- a/azure-pipelines.yml
+++ b/azure-pipelines.yml
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ stages:
     - script: |
         python -m pip install -r test_requirements.txt
         # Don't use doc_requirements.txt since that messes up tests
-        python -m pip install vulture sphinx==5.0.1 numpydoc==1.4.0
+        python -m pip install vulture sphinx==4.3.0 numpydoc==1.4.0
       displayName: 'Install dependencies; some are optional to avoid test skips'
     - script: /bin/bash -c "! vulture . --min-confidence 100 --exclude doc/,numpy/distutils/ | grep 'unreachable'"
       displayName: 'Check for unreachable code paths in Python modules'
diff --git a/doc/source/conf.py b/doc/source/conf.py
index 1b0e004d4de6..3e0b839af4fe 100644
--- a/doc/source/conf.py
+++ b/doc/source/conf.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 import importlib
 
 # Minimum version, enforced by sphinx
-needs_sphinx = '5.0.1'
+needs_sphinx = '4.3'
 
 
 # This is a nasty hack to use platform-agnostic names for types in the
diff --git a/doc_requirements.txt b/doc_requirements.txt
index 5748d0670474..e3c4f6d71a3f 100644
--- a/doc_requirements.txt
+++ b/doc_requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # doxygen required, use apt-get or dnf
-sphinx==5.0.1
+sphinx>=4.5.0
 numpydoc==1.4
 pydata-sphinx-theme==0.9.0
 sphinx-panels
diff --git a/environment.yml b/environment.yml
index dfe2ae9809f8..dd5f17ef9547 100644
--- a/environment.yml
+++ b/environment.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ dependencies:
   - mypy=0.950
   - typing_extensions>=4.2.0
   # For building docs
-  - sphinx=5.0.1
+  - sphinx>=4.5.0
   - sphinx-panels
   - numpydoc=1.4.0
   - ipython