An object of the present invention is to provide a rinsing liquid that has excellent resolution and excellent film thickness loss suppressiveness in a case where the rinsing liquid is used to rinse a resist film and a pattern forming method that uses the rinsing liquid. The rinsing liquid according to an embodiment of the present invention is a rinsing liquid for resist film patterning for a resist film obtained from an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive composition, and contains at least a first ester-based solvent having 7 carbon atoms other than an acetate.