diff --git a/docs/configuration.md b/docs/configuration.md
index 1e95b862441f5..86a9bd97d3342 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/configuration.md
@@ -1188,7 +1188,9 @@ Apart from these, the following properties are also available, and may be useful
   <td><code>spark.task.maxFailures</code></td>
   <td>4</td>
   <td>
-    Number of individual task failures before giving up on the job.
+    Number of failures of any particular task before giving up on the job.
+    The total number of failures spread across different tasks will not cause the job
+    to fail; a particular task has to fail this number of attempts.
     Should be greater than or equal to 1. Number of allowed retries = this value - 1.
   </td>
 </tr>