diff --git a/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md b/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md
index 90d9ddf422..0084652942 100644
--- a/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md
+++ b/Library/Contributions/manpages/brew.1.md
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ can take several different forms:
     If set, Homebrew will pass `--verbose` when invoking `curl`(1).
 
   * HOMEBREW\_DEBUG:
-    If set, Homebrew always assumes `--debug` when running commands.
+    If set, any commands that can emit debugging information will do so.
 
   * HOMEBREW\_DEBUG\_INSTALL:
     When `brew install -d` or `brew install -i` drops into a shell,
diff --git a/share/man/man1/brew.1 b/share/man/man1/brew.1
index 1103292803..13b8371648 100644
--- a/share/man/man1/brew.1
+++ b/share/man/man1/brew.1
@@ -478,7 +478,7 @@ If set, Homebrew will pass \fB\-\-verbose\fR when invoking \fBcurl\fR(1)\.
 .
 .TP
 HOMEBREW_DEBUG
-If set, Homebrew always assumes \fB\-\-debug\fR when running commands\.
+If set, any commands that can emit debugging information will do so\.
 .
 .TP
 HOMEBREW_DEBUG_INSTALL