diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
index dcd36d5c1..889931301 100644
--- a/config.go
+++ b/config.go
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ func init() {
 	flag.StringVar(&config.Separator, "separator", "", "the separator to replace '/' with when looking up keys in the backend, prefixed '/' will also be removed (only used with -backend=redis)")
 	flag.StringVar(&config.Username, "username", "", "the username to authenticate as (only used with vault and etcd backends)")
 	flag.StringVar(&config.Password, "password", "", "the password to authenticate with (only used with vault and etcd backends)")
-	flag.BoolVar(&config.Watch, "watch", false, "enable watch support")
+	flag.BoolVar(&config.Watch, "watch", false, "actively watch the backend for changes vs. checking every INTERVAL seconds (dynamodb and ssm are not supported)")
 }
 
 // initConfig initializes the confd configuration by first setting defaults,
diff --git a/docs/command-line-flags.md b/docs/command-line-flags.md
index 6524d5d26..a9e4c0246 100644
--- a/docs/command-line-flags.md
+++ b/docs/command-line-flags.md
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ Usage of confd:
   -version
       print version and exit
   -watch
-      enable watch support
+      actively watch the backend for changes vs. checking every INTERVAL seconds (dynamodb and ssm are not supported)
 ```
 
 > The -scheme flag is only used to set the URL scheme for nodes retrieved from DNS SRV records.
diff --git a/docs/configuration-guide.md b/docs/configuration-guide.md
index 8bbe4674c..1f8a1600b 100644
--- a/docs/configuration-guide.md
+++ b/docs/configuration-guide.md
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ Optional:
 * `srv_domain` (string) - The name of the resource record.
 * `srv_record` (string) - The SRV record to search for backends nodes.
 * `sync-only` (bool) - sync without check_cmd and reload_cmd.
-* `watch` (bool) - Enable watch support.
+* `watch` (bool) - Actively watch the backend for changes vs. checking every INTERVAL seconds (dynamodb and ssm are not supported).
 * `auth_token` (string) - Auth bearer token to use.
 * `auth_type` (string) - Vault auth backend type to use.
 * `basic_auth` (bool) - Use Basic Auth to authenticate (only used with -backend=consul and -backend=etcd).