diff --git a/usr.bin/make/make.1 b/usr.bin/make/make.1
index 9b3171b881b..7e70998f8b7 100644
--- a/usr.bin/make/make.1
+++ b/usr.bin/make/make.1
@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@ If either
 .Ev MAKEOBJDIRPREFIX
 or
 .Ev MAKEOBJDIR
-is defined but
+is set in the environment but
 .Nm
 is unable to change into the corresponding directory,
 then the current directory is used