diff --git a/lib/commands/explain.js b/lib/commands/explain.js
index c0ef04548a4ed..a06ad24152a1e 100644
--- a/lib/commands/explain.js
+++ b/lib/commands/explain.js
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ class Explain extends ArboristWorkspaceCmd {
 
     const expls = []
     for (const node of nodes) {
-      const { extraneous, dev, optional, devOptional, peer, inBundle } = node
+      const { extraneous, dev, optional, devOptional, peer, inBundle, overridden } = node
       const expl = node.explain()
       if (extraneous) {
         expl.extraneous = true
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ class Explain extends ArboristWorkspaceCmd {
         expl.devOptional = devOptional
         expl.peer = peer
         expl.bundled = inBundle
+        expl.overridden = overridden
       }
       expls.push(expl)
     }
diff --git a/lib/utils/explain-dep.js b/lib/utils/explain-dep.js
index 107f68549ef1d..cd53a2269640e 100644
--- a/lib/utils/explain-dep.js
+++ b/lib/utils/explain-dep.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ const nocolor = {
   magenta: s => s,
   blue: s => s,
   green: s => s,
+  gray: s => s,
 }
 
 const { relative } = require('path')
@@ -18,13 +19,14 @@ const explainNode = (node, depth, color) =>
   explainLinksIn(node, depth, color)
 
 const colorType = (type, color) => {
-  const { red, yellow, cyan, magenta, blue, green } = color ? chalk : nocolor
+  const { red, yellow, cyan, magenta, blue, green, gray } = color ? chalk : nocolor
   const style = type === 'extraneous' ? red
     : type === 'dev' ? yellow
     : type === 'optional' ? cyan
     : type === 'peer' ? magenta
     : type === 'bundled' ? blue
     : type === 'workspace' ? green
+    : type === 'overridden' ? gray
     : /* istanbul ignore next */ s => s
   return style(type)
 }
@@ -40,6 +42,7 @@ const printNode = (node, color) => {
     peer,
     bundled,
     isWorkspace,
+    overridden,
   } = node
   const { bold, dim, green } = color ? chalk : nocolor
   const extra = []
@@ -63,6 +66,10 @@ const printNode = (node, color) => {
     extra.push(' ' + bold(colorType('bundled', color)))
   }
 
+  if (overridden) {
+    extra.push(' ' + bold(colorType('overridden', color)))
+  }
+
   const pkgid = isWorkspace
     ? green(`${name}@${version}`)
     : `${bold(name)}@${bold(version)}`
@@ -112,11 +119,15 @@ const explainDependents = ({ name, dependents }, depth, color) => {
   return str.split('\n').join('\n  ')
 }
 
-const explainEdge = ({ name, type, bundled, from, spec }, depth, color) => {
+const explainEdge = ({ name, type, bundled, from, spec, rawSpec, overridden }, depth, color) => {
   const { bold } = color ? chalk : nocolor
-  const dep = type === 'workspace'
+  let dep = type === 'workspace'
     ? bold(relative(from.location, spec.slice('file:'.length)))
     : `${bold(name)}@"${bold(spec)}"`
+  if (overridden) {
+    dep = `${colorType('overridden', color)} ${dep} (was "${rawSpec}")`
+  }
+
   const fromMsg = ` from ${explainFrom(from, depth, color)}`
 
   return (type === 'prod' ? '' : `${colorType(type, color)} `) +
diff --git a/tap-snapshots/test/lib/utils/explain-dep.js.test.cjs b/tap-snapshots/test/lib/utils/explain-dep.js.test.cjs
index 4d6f4686df8c4..8550617eb0a00 100644
--- a/tap-snapshots/test/lib/utils/explain-dep.js.test.cjs
+++ b/tap-snapshots/test/lib/utils/explain-dep.js.test.cjs
@@ -156,6 +156,28 @@ optdep@1.0.0 optional
 node_modules/optdep
 `
 
+exports[`test/lib/utils/explain-dep.js TAP overridden > explain color deep 1`] = `
+overridden-root@1.0.0 overridden
+node_modules/overridden-root
+  overridden overridden-dep@"1.0.0" (was "^2.0.0") from the root project
+`
+
+exports[`test/lib/utils/explain-dep.js TAP overridden > explain nocolor shallow 1`] = `
+overridden-root@1.0.0 overridden
+node_modules/overridden-root
+  overridden overridden-dep@"1.0.0" (was "^2.0.0") from the root project
+`
+
+exports[`test/lib/utils/explain-dep.js TAP overridden > print color 1`] = `
+overridden-root@1.0.0 overridden
+node_modules/overridden-root
+`
+
+exports[`test/lib/utils/explain-dep.js TAP overridden > print nocolor 1`] = `
+overridden-root@1.0.0 overridden
+node_modules/overridden-root
+`
+
 exports[`test/lib/utils/explain-dep.js TAP peer > explain color deep 1`] = `
 peer@1.0.0 peer
 node_modules/peer
diff --git a/test/lib/utils/explain-dep.js b/test/lib/utils/explain-dep.js
index 000f5b8165a9b..ed006c01d78fb 100644
--- a/test/lib/utils/explain-dep.js
+++ b/test/lib/utils/explain-dep.js
@@ -129,6 +129,23 @@ const cases = {
     dependents: [],
     extraneous: true,
   },
+
+  overridden: {
+    name: 'overridden-root',
+    version: '1.0.0',
+    location: 'node_modules/overridden-root',
+    overridden: true,
+    dependents: [{
+      type: 'prod',
+      name: 'overridden-dep',
+      spec: '1.0.0',
+      rawSpec: '^2.0.0',
+      overridden: true,
+      from: {
+        location: '/path/to/project',
+      },
+    }],
+  },
 }
 
 cases.manyDeps = {