diff --git a/cmd/file_lint.go b/cmd/file_lint.go
index 289c1e76d..71afc9a93 100644
--- a/cmd/file_lint.go
+++ b/cmd/file_lint.go
@@ -189,15 +189,19 @@ func newLintCmd() *cobra.Command {
 		"Ruleset to apply to the state file.")
 	lintCmd.Flags().StringVar(
 		&cmdLintFormat, "format", plainTextFormat,
-		fmt.Sprintf("output format: %s, %s or %s ",
+		fmt.Sprintf(`output format [choices: "%s", "%s", "%s"]`,
 			plainTextFormat,
 			string(filebasics.OutputFormatJSON),
 			string(filebasics.OutputFormatYaml),
 		),
 	)
-	lintCmd.Flags().StringVar(&cmdLintFailSeverity, "fail-severity", "warn", "minimum severity to fail on")
+	lintCmd.Flags().StringVarP(
+		&cmdLintFailSeverity, "fail-severity", "F", "error",
+		"results of this level or above will trigger a failure exit code "+
+			"[choices: \"error\", \"warn\", \"info\", \"hint\"]")
 	lintCmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&cmdLintOnlyFailures,
-		"display-only-failures", "D", false, "only output results equal to or greater than --fail-severity")
+		"display-only-failures", "D", false,
+		"only output results equal to or greater than --fail-severity")
 
 	return lintCmd
 }