diff --git a/Doc/library/filecmp.rst b/Doc/library/filecmp.rst
index e0ffff704ec..f84cfa9a2da 100644
--- a/Doc/library/filecmp.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/filecmp.rst
@@ -75,6 +75,9 @@ The :class:`dircmp` class
    'tags']``. *hide* is a list of names to hide, and defaults to ``[os.curdir,
    os.pardir]``.
 
+   The :class:`dircmp` class compares files by doing *shallow* comparisons
+   as described for :func:`filecmp.cmp`.
+
    The :class:`dircmp` class provides the following methods:
 
 
@@ -94,7 +97,7 @@ The :class:`dircmp` class
       Print a comparison between *a* and *b* and common subdirectories
       (recursively).
 
-   The :class:`dircmp` offers a number of interesting attributes that may be
+   The :class:`dircmp` class offers a number of interesting attributes that may be
    used to get various bits of information about the directory trees being
    compared.
 
@@ -146,12 +149,14 @@ The :class:`dircmp` class
 
    .. attribute:: same_files
 
-      Files which are identical in both *a* and *b*.
+      Files which are identical in both *a* and *b*, using the class's
+      file comparison operator.
 
 
    .. attribute:: diff_files
 
-      Files which are in both *a* and *b*, whose contents differ.
+      Files which are in both *a* and *b*, whose contents differ according
+      to the class's file comparison operator.
 
 
    .. attribute:: funny_files
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 62099bfa085..b9ee301333f 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -196,6 +196,9 @@ Documentation
 - Issue #13557: Clarify effect of giving two different namespaces to exec or
   execfile().
 
+- Issue #15250: Document that filecmp.dircmp compares files shallowly. Patch
+  contributed by Chris Jerdonek.
+
 Tests
 -----