diff --git a/packages/purgecss/__tests__/css-variables.test.ts b/packages/purgecss/__tests__/css-variables.test.ts
index 7c5b44ef..57b5776b 100644
--- a/packages/purgecss/__tests__/css-variables.test.ts
+++ b/packages/purgecss/__tests__/css-variables.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import PurgeCSS from "./../src/index";
-
 import { ROOT_TEST_EXAMPLES } from "./utils";
 
 describe("purge unused css variables", () => {
@@ -25,4 +24,8 @@ describe("purge unused css variables", () => {
     expect(purgedCSS.includes("--unused-color")).toBe(false);
     expect(purgedCSS.includes("--button-color")).toBe(false);
   });
+  it("keeps '--color-first:', '--wrong-order'", () => {
+    expect(purgedCSS.includes("--color-first:")).toBe(true);
+    expect(purgedCSS.includes("--wrong-order:")).toBe(true);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/purgecss/__tests__/test_examples/css-variables/variables.css b/packages/purgecss/__tests__/test_examples/css-variables/variables.css
index c8df7826..696ae7d0 100644
--- a/packages/purgecss/__tests__/test_examples/css-variables/variables.css
+++ b/packages/purgecss/__tests__/test_examples/css-variables/variables.css
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 :root {
+  --color-first: var(--wrong-order);
   --primary-color: blue;
   --secondary-color: indigo;
   --tertiary-color: aqua;
   --unused-color: violet;
   --used-color: rebeccapurple;
   --accent-color: orange;
+  --wrong-order: yellow;
+  --random: var(--not-existing);
 }
 
 .button {
@@ -19,4 +22,5 @@
 .button:focus {
   background-color: var(--accent-color);
   color: var(--primary-color);
+  border-color: var(--color-first);
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/purgecss/src/VariablesStructure.ts b/packages/purgecss/src/VariablesStructure.ts
index b26a5a6e..e20fb6af 100644
--- a/packages/purgecss/src/VariablesStructure.ts
+++ b/packages/purgecss/src/VariablesStructure.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import * as postcss from "postcss";
+import { matchAll } from "./index";
 import { StringRegExpArray } from "./types";
 
 class VariableNode {
@@ -62,9 +63,26 @@ class VariablesStructure {
   }
 
   removeUnused(): void {
+    // check unordered usage
+    for (const used of this.usedVariables) {
+      const usedNode = this.nodes.get(used);
+      if (usedNode) {
+        const usedVariablesMatchesInDeclaration = matchAll(
+          usedNode.value.value,
+          /var\((.+?)[,)]/g
+        );
+        usedVariablesMatchesInDeclaration.forEach((usage) => {
+          if (!this.usedVariables.has(usage[1])) {
+            this.usedVariables.add(usage[1]);
+          }
+        });
+      }
+    }
+
     for (const used of this.usedVariables) {
       this.setAsUsed(used);
     }
+
     for (const [name, declaration] of this.nodes) {
       if (!declaration.isUsed && !this.isVariablesSafelisted(name)) {
         declaration.value.remove();
diff --git a/packages/purgecss/src/index.ts b/packages/purgecss/src/index.ts
index 78c84e36..4c1965fb 100644
--- a/packages/purgecss/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/purgecss/src/index.ts
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ function isInPseudoClass(selector: selectorParser.Node): boolean {
   );
 }
 
-function matchAll(str: string, regexp: RegExp): RegExpMatchArray[] {
+export function matchAll(str: string, regexp: RegExp): RegExpMatchArray[] {
   const matches: RegExpMatchArray[] = [];
   str.replace(regexp, function () {
     // eslint-disable-next-line prefer-rest-params