diff --git a/defaults.js b/defaults.js
index 614c453e4..db344e5cf 100644
--- a/defaults.js
+++ b/defaults.js
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ const defaults = {
   scripts: {},
   skip: {},
   dryRun: false,
+  strictSemver: false,
   gitTagFallback: true,
   preset: require.resolve('conventional-changelog-conventionalcommits')
 }
diff --git a/lib/lifecycles/bump.js b/lib/lifecycles/bump.js
index 370fbff03..dc92ad89e 100644
--- a/lib/lifecycles/bump.js
+++ b/lib/lifecycles/bump.js
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ function bumpVersion (releaseAs, currentVersion, args) {
     } else {
       const presetOptions = presetLoader(args)
       if (typeof presetOptions === 'object') {
-        if (semver.lt(currentVersion, '1.0.0')) presetOptions.preMajor = true
+        if (semver.lt(currentVersion, '1.0.0') && !args.strictSemver) presetOptions.preMajor = true
       }
       conventionalRecommendedBump({
         debug: args.verbose && console.info.bind(console, 'conventional-recommended-bump'),