diff --git a/src/compiler/scala/tools/nsc/settings/Warnings.scala b/src/compiler/scala/tools/nsc/settings/Warnings.scala
index 8c13e0542c36..2f5cbdd52dd6 100644
--- a/src/compiler/scala/tools/nsc/settings/Warnings.scala
+++ b/src/compiler/scala/tools/nsc/settings/Warnings.scala
@@ -90,6 +90,8 @@ trait Warnings {
          |Full list of message categories:
          |${WarningCategory.all.keys.groupBy(_.split('-').head).toList.sortBy(_._1).map(_._2.toList.sorted.mkString(", ")).mkString(" - ", "\n - ", "")}
          |
+         |To suppress warnings locally, use the `scala.annotation.silent` annotation.
+         |
          |Note: on the command-line you might need to quote configurations containing `*` or `&`
          |to prevent the shell from expanding patterns.""".stripMargin),
     prepend = true)
diff --git a/src/library/scala/annotation/silent.scala b/src/library/scala/annotation/silent.scala
index 23bc483f3729..324c3da63b01 100644
--- a/src/library/scala/annotation/silent.scala
+++ b/src/library/scala/annotation/silent.scala
@@ -28,5 +28,7 @@ package scala.annotation
   *   @silent("msg=pure expression does nothing")
   *   def f = { 1; deprecated() } // show deprecation warning
   * }}}
+  *
+  * To ensure that a `@silent` annotation actually suppresses a warning, enable `-Xlint:silent`.
   */
 class silent(value: String = "") extends ConstantAnnotation