diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/verbose_stderr.yml b/changelogs/fragments/verbose_stderr.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..eccf66753f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/verbose_stderr.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+    - allow user to force verbose messages to stderr
diff --git a/lib/ansible/config/base.yml b/lib/ansible/config/base.yml
index b8f099fd42d..65e58025638 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/config/base.yml
+++ b/lib/ansible/config/base.yml
@@ -1776,4 +1776,15 @@ STRING_CONVERSION_ACTION:
     - section: defaults
       key: string_conversion_action
   type: string
+VERBOSE_TO_STDERR:
+  version_added: '2.8'
+  description:
+    - Force 'verbose' option to use stderr instead of stdout
+  default: False
+  env:
+    - name: ANSIBLE_VERBOSE_TO_STDERR
+  ini:
+    - section: defaults
+      key: verbose_to_stderr
+  type: bool
 ...
diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/display.py b/lib/ansible/utils/display.py
index f08451fc92b..e5895dcac0f 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/display.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/display.py
@@ -201,11 +201,13 @@ class Display(with_metaclass(Singleton, object)):
                 self.display("%6d %0.5f [%s]: %s" % (os.getpid(), time.time(), host, msg), color=C.COLOR_DEBUG)
 
     def verbose(self, msg, host=None, caplevel=2):
+
+        to_stderr = C.VERBOSE_TO_STDERR
         if self.verbosity > caplevel:
             if host is None:
-                self.display(msg, color=C.COLOR_VERBOSE)
+                self.display(msg, color=C.COLOR_VERBOSE, stderr=to_stderr)
             else:
-                self.display("<%s> %s" % (host, msg), color=C.COLOR_VERBOSE)
+                self.display("<%s> %s" % (host, msg), color=C.COLOR_VERBOSE, stderr=to_stderr)
 
     def deprecated(self, msg, version=None, removed=False):
         ''' used to print out a deprecation message.'''