diff --git a/.phpcs.xml.dist b/.phpcs.xml.dist
index 062f9d0e6a..656c8ab925 100644
--- a/.phpcs.xml.dist
+++ b/.phpcs.xml.dist
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@
 
 		<!-- Linting is done in a separate CI job, no need to duplicate it. -->
 		<exclude name="Generic.PHP.Syntax"/>
+
+		<!-- WPCS still has a PHP 5.4 minimum. -->
+		<exclude name="Modernize.FunctionCalls.Dirname"/>
 	</rule>
 
 	<!-- Check code for cross-version PHP compatibility. -->
diff --git a/WordPress-Core/ruleset.xml b/WordPress-Core/ruleset.xml
index f84fcca4d2..e871818cba 100644
--- a/WordPress-Core/ruleset.xml
+++ b/WordPress-Core/ruleset.xml
@@ -923,8 +923,9 @@
 	<!-- Check that class name references use the correct case. -->
 	<rule ref="WordPress.WP.ClassNameCase"/>
 
-	<!-- Check that __DIR__ is favoured over dirname(__FILE__).
+	<!-- Check that __DIR__ is favoured over dirname(__FILE__)
+		 and that dirname( __DIR__, $levels ) is favoured over nested calls to dirname().
 		 See: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/48082 -->
-	<rule ref="Modernize.FunctionCalls.Dirname.FileConstant"/>
+	<rule ref="Modernize.FunctionCalls.Dirname"/>
 
 </ruleset>
diff --git a/WordPress-Extra/ruleset.xml b/WordPress-Extra/ruleset.xml
index bf753e6b95..6d32e45c65 100644
--- a/WordPress-Extra/ruleset.xml
+++ b/WordPress-Extra/ruleset.xml
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@
 
 	<rule ref="WordPress-Core"/>
 
+	<!-- Silence the "no nested dirnames, use $levels" notice, which is included in Core,
+		 as plugin/themes may still support PHP < 7.0. -->
+	<rule ref="Modernize.FunctionCalls.Dirname.Nested">
+		<severity>0</severity>
+	</rule>
+
 	<!-- Generic PHP best practices.
 		 https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress-Coding-Standards/pull/382 -->
 	<rule ref="Generic.PHP.DeprecatedFunctions"/>