diff --git a/man8/ld.so.8 b/man8/ld.so.8
index 89965a1e5..e9e320d64 100644
--- a/man8/ld.so.8
+++ b/man8/ld.so.8
@@ -68,7 +68,11 @@ in which case it is ignored.
 .IP o
 Using the directories specified in the
 DT_RUNPATH dynamic section attribute
-of the binary if present.
+of the binary if present. Such directories are only searched to
+find those objects required by DT_NEEDED (direct dependencies) entries
+and do not apply to those object's children who must themselves have
+their own DT_RUNPATH entries. This is unlike DT_RPATH which is applied
+to searches for all children in the dependency tree.
 .IP o
 From the cache file
 .IR /etc/ld.so.cache ,