diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index c312dd25..b74dc428 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
 
 * CLI arguments with nonstandard argument values emit warnings (#722)
 
+### Deprecated
+
+* In the CLI, `--tmpdir=false` has been deprecated in favor of `--no-tmpdir` (#722)
+
 ## [9.0.1] - 2017-09-02
 
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/common.js b/common.js
index 0c5b10ef..8f4ea9aa 100644
--- a/common.js
+++ b/common.js
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ function parseCLIArgs (argv) {
 
   // tmpdir: `String` or `false`
   if (args.tmpdir === 'false') {
+    warning('--tmpdir=false is deprecated, use --no-tmpdir instead')
     args.tmpdir = false
   }
 
diff --git a/usage.txt b/usage.txt
index 9dee4c29..00895b9c 100644
--- a/usage.txt
+++ b/usage.txt
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ package-manager    the package manager to use when pruning devDependencies. Supp
 platform           all, or one or more of: darwin, linux, mas, win32 (comma-delimited if multiple).
                    Defaults to the host platform
 quiet              Do not print informational or warning messages
-tmpdir             temp directory. Defaults to system temp directory, use --tmpdir=false to disable
+tmpdir             temp directory. Defaults to system temp directory, use --no-tmpdir to disable
                    use of a temporary directory.
 
 * darwin/mas target platforms only *