diff --git a/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-metadata.xml b/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-metadata.xml
index 88622421db..6b49d7fa8b 100644
--- a/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-metadata.xml
+++ b/bitbake/doc/bitbake-user-manual/bitbake-user-manual-metadata.xml
@@ -369,9 +369,8 @@
 
             <para>
                 These operators differ from the ":=", ".=", "=.", "+=", and "=+"
-                operators in that their effects are deferred
-                until after parsing completes rather than being immediately
-                applied.
+                operators in that their effects are applied at variable
+                expansion time rather than being immediately applied.
                 Here are some examples:
                 <literallayout class='monospaced'>
      B = "bval"
@@ -435,7 +434,7 @@
 
             <para>
                 Like "_append" and "_prepend", "_remove"
-                is deferred until after parsing completes.
+                is applied at variable expansion time.
             </para>
         </section>