diff --git a/Help/manual/ctest.1.rst b/Help/manual/ctest.1.rst
index 994ae47b77..5c3889e3be 100644
--- a/Help/manual/ctest.1.rst
+++ b/Help/manual/ctest.1.rst
@@ -1230,7 +1230,8 @@ Configuration settings include:
 
 ``TimeOut``
   The default timeout for each test if not specified by the
-  :prop_test:`TIMEOUT` test property.
+  :prop_test:`TIMEOUT` test property or the
+  :option:`--timeout <ctest --timeout>` flag.
 
   * `CTest Script`_ variable: :variable:`CTEST_TEST_TIMEOUT`
   * :module:`CTest` module variable: ``DART_TESTING_TIMEOUT``
diff --git a/Source/CTest/cmCTestRunTest.cxx b/Source/CTest/cmCTestRunTest.cxx
index 563439acda..19e505fcfe 100644
--- a/Source/CTest/cmCTestRunTest.cxx
+++ b/Source/CTest/cmCTestRunTest.cxx
@@ -768,11 +768,12 @@ bool cmCTestRunTest::ForkProcess()
       timeout = this->CTest->GetGlobalTimeout();
     }
 
-    // Check CTEST_TEST_TIMEOUT.
-    cmDuration ctestTestTimeout = this->CTest->GetTimeOut();
-    if (ctestTestTimeout > cmDuration::zero() &&
-        (!timeout || ctestTestTimeout < *timeout)) {
-      timeout = ctestTestTimeout;
+    if (!timeout) {
+      // Check CTEST_TEST_TIMEOUT.
+      cmDuration ctestTestTimeout = this->CTest->GetTimeOut();
+      if (ctestTestTimeout > cmDuration::zero()) {
+        timeout = ctestTestTimeout;
+      }
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/CTestTimeout/FlagOverridesVar-stdout.txt b/Tests/RunCMake/CTestTimeout/FlagOverridesVar-stdout.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f580871638
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/CTestTimeout/FlagOverridesVar-stdout.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+Test project [^
+]*/Tests/RunCMake/CTestTimeout/FlagOverridesVar-build
+    Start 1: TestTimeout
+1/1 Test #1: TestTimeout ......................   Passed +[1-9][0-9.]* sec
++
+100% tests passed, 0 tests failed out of 1
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/CTestTimeout/RunCMakeTest.cmake b/Tests/RunCMake/CTestTimeout/RunCMakeTest.cmake
index e9ecc5f20d..470bbd890d 100644
--- a/Tests/RunCMake/CTestTimeout/RunCMakeTest.cmake
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/CTestTimeout/RunCMakeTest.cmake
@@ -94,3 +94,10 @@ block()
   set(CASE_CMAKELISTS_SUFFIX_CODE "set_property(TEST TestTimeout PROPERTY TIMEOUT 10)\n")
   run_ctest_timeout(PropertyOverridesVar)
 endblock()
+
+block()
+  set(TIMEOUT 4)
+  set(CASE_TEST_PREFIX_CODE "set(CTEST_TEST_TIMEOUT 2)")
+  set(CASE_CMAKELISTS_SUFFIX_CODE "set_property(TEST TestTimeout PROPERTY TIMEOUT)\n")
+  run_ctest_timeout(FlagOverridesVar --timeout 10000001)
+endblock()