diff --git a/Help/variable/CMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE.rst b/Help/variable/CMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE.rst
index 451ce8c7b..2420a25e1 100644
--- a/Help/variable/CMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE.rst
+++ b/Help/variable/CMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE.rst
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 CMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE
 ----------------------
 
-Create verbose makefiles if on.
+Enable verbose output from Makefile builds.
 
-This variable defaults to false.  You can set this variable to true to
-make CMake produce verbose makefiles that show each command line as it
-is used.
+This variable is a cache entry initialized (to FALSE) by
+the :command:`project` command.  Users may enable the option
+in their local build tree to get more verbose output from
+Makefile builds and show each command line as it is launched.