diff --git a/server/embed/config.go b/server/embed/config.go
index 3bbdf0c9e57..b440f0c333b 100644
--- a/server/embed/config.go
+++ b/server/embed/config.go
@@ -644,7 +644,7 @@ func (cfg *Config) AddFlags(fs *flag.FlagSet) {
 	fs.StringVar(&cfg.InitialClusterToken, "initial-cluster-token", cfg.InitialClusterToken, "Initial cluster token for the etcd cluster during bootstrap.")
 	fs.BoolVar(&cfg.StrictReconfigCheck, "strict-reconfig-check", cfg.StrictReconfigCheck, "Reject reconfiguration requests that would cause quorum loss.")
 
-	fs.BoolVar(&cfg.PreVote, "pre-vote", cfg.PreVote, "Enable to run an additional Raft election phase.")
+	fs.BoolVar(&cfg.PreVote, "pre-vote", cfg.PreVote, "Enable the raft Pre-Vote algorithm to prevent disruption when a node that has been partitioned away rejoins the cluster.")
 
 	// security
 	fs.StringVar(&cfg.ClientTLSInfo.CertFile, "cert-file", "", "Path to the client server TLS cert file.")
diff --git a/server/etcdmain/help.go b/server/etcdmain/help.go
index cb09c8fdcd0..23e00ace613 100644
--- a/server/etcdmain/help.go
+++ b/server/etcdmain/help.go
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ Clustering:
   --strict-reconfig-check '` + strconv.FormatBool(embed.DefaultStrictReconfigCheck) + `'
     Reject reconfiguration requests that would cause quorum loss.
   --pre-vote 'true'
-    Enable to run an additional Raft election phase.
+    Enable the raft Pre-Vote algorithm to prevent disruption when a node that has been partitioned away rejoins the cluster.
   --auto-compaction-retention '0'
     Auto compaction retention length. 0 means disable auto compaction.
   --auto-compaction-mode 'periodic'