diff --git a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumer.java b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumer.java
index b384211e3d8..fe53fb1ca43 100644
--- a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumer.java
+++ b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumer.java
@@ -1475,6 +1475,7 @@ public class KafkaConsumer<K, V> implements Consumer<K, V> {
     /**
      * Wakeup the consumer. This method is thread-safe and is useful in particular to abort a long poll.
      * The thread which is blocking in an operation will throw {@link org.apache.kafka.common.errors.WakeupException}.
+     * If no thread is blocking in a method which can throw {@link org.apache.kafka.common.errors.WakeupException}, the next call to such a method will raise it instead.
      */
     @Override
     public void wakeup() {