diff --git a/Auxiliary/cmake-mode.el b/Auxiliary/cmake-mode.el
index c8b9f8bb8..f1470f3f5 100644
--- a/Auxiliary/cmake-mode.el
+++ b/Auxiliary/cmake-mode.el
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ the indentation.  Otherwise it retains the same position on the line"
 ;; Keyword highlighting regex-to-face map.
 ;;
 (defconst cmake-font-lock-keywords
-  (list '("^[ \t]*\\(\\w+\\)[ \t]*(" 1 font-lock-function-name-face))
+  (list '("^[ \t]*\\([[:word:]_]+\\)[ \t]*(" 1 font-lock-function-name-face))
   "Highlighting expressions for CMAKE mode."
   )
 
@@ -241,7 +241,6 @@ the indentation.  Otherwise it retains the same position on the line"
   ; Create the syntax table
   (setq cmake-mode-syntax-table (make-syntax-table))
   (set-syntax-table cmake-mode-syntax-table)
-  (modify-syntax-entry ?_  "w" cmake-mode-syntax-table)
   (modify-syntax-entry ?\(  "()" cmake-mode-syntax-table)
   (modify-syntax-entry ?\)  ")(" cmake-mode-syntax-table)
   (modify-syntax-entry ?# "<" cmake-mode-syntax-table)
diff --git a/Help/release/3.1.0.rst b/Help/release/3.1.0.rst
index e7a695db9..65aae000b 100644
--- a/Help/release/3.1.0.rst
+++ b/Help/release/3.1.0.rst
@@ -386,3 +386,7 @@ Other Changes
   the Open Watcom external version numbering.  The external
   version numbers are lower than the internal version number
   by 11.
+
+* The ``cmake-mode.el`` major Emacs editing mode no longer
+  treats ``_`` as part of words, making it more consistent
+  with other major modes.