diff --git a/docs/contracts.rst b/docs/contracts.rst
index a1192d4e6..01913654c 100644
--- a/docs/contracts.rst
+++ b/docs/contracts.rst
@@ -509,7 +509,8 @@ In particular, the following operations will consume more gas than the stipend p
 Please ensure you test your fallback function thoroughly to ensure the execution cost is less than 2300 gas before deploying a contract.
 
 .. warning::
-    Contracts that receive Ether but do not define a fallback function
+    Contracts that receive Ether directly (without a function call, i.e. using ``send`` or ``transfer``)
+    but do not define a fallback function
     throw an exception, sending back the Ether (this was different
     before Solidity v0.4.0). So if you want your contract to receive Ether,
     you have to implement a fallback function.