diff --git a/lib/src/command/upgrade.dart b/lib/src/command/upgrade.dart
index 1c01237ee..c0092b201 100644
--- a/lib/src/command/upgrade.dart
+++ b/lib/src/command/upgrade.dart
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ class UpgradeCommand extends PubCommand {
     );
 
     argParser.addFlag(
-      'transitive',
+      'unlock-transitive',
       help: 'Also upgrades the transitive dependencies '
           'of the listed [dependencies]',
     );
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ class UpgradeCommand extends PubCommand {
   /// This allows the user to specify list of names that they want the
   /// upgrade command to affect.
   Future<List<String>> _computePackagesToUpgrade() async {
-    if (argResults.flag('transitive')) {
+    if (argResults.flag('unlock-transitive')) {
       final graph = await entrypoint.packageGraph;
       return argResults.rest
           .expand(
diff --git a/test/upgrade/upgrade_transitive_test.dart b/test/upgrade/upgrade_transitive_test.dart
index 38b8e6ab3..410b27369 100644
--- a/test/upgrade/upgrade_transitive_test.dart
+++ b/test/upgrade/upgrade_transitive_test.dart
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import '../descriptor.dart' as d;
 import '../test_pub.dart';
 
 void main() {
-  test('without --transitive, the transitive dependencies stay locked',
+  test('without --unlock-transitive, the transitive dependencies stay locked',
       () async {
     final server = await servePackages();
     server.serve('foo', '1.0.0', deps: {'bar': '^1.0.0'});
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ void main() {
     );
   });
 
-  test('`--transitive` dependencies gets unlocked', () async {
+  test('`--unlock-transitive` dependencies gets unlocked', () async {
     final server = await servePackages();
     server.serve('foo', '1.0.0', deps: {'bar': '^1.0.0'});
     server.serve('bar', '1.0.0');
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ void main() {
     server.serve('baz', '1.5.0');
 
     await pubUpgrade(
-      args: ['--transitive', 'foo'],
+      args: ['--unlock-transitive', 'foo'],
       output: allOf(
         contains('> foo 1.5.0'),
         contains('> bar 1.5.0'),
@@ -66,8 +66,9 @@ void main() {
   });
 
   test(
-      '`--major-versions` without `--transitive` does not allow transitive '
-      'dependencies to be upgraded along with the named packages', () async {
+      '`--major-versions` without `--unlock-transitive` does not allow '
+      'transitive dependencies to be upgraded along with the named packages',
+      () async {
     final server = await servePackages();
     server.serve('foo', '1.0.0', deps: {'bar': '^1.0.0'});
     server.serve('bar', '1.0.0');
@@ -93,7 +94,7 @@ void main() {
   });
 
   test(
-      '`--transitive --major-versions` allows transitive dependencies '
+      '`--unlock-transitive --major-versions` allows transitive dependencies '
       'be upgraded along with the named packages', () async {
     final server = await servePackages();
     server.serve('foo', '1.0.0', deps: {'bar': '^1.0.0'});
@@ -114,7 +115,7 @@ void main() {
     server.serve('baz', '1.5.0');
 
     await pubUpgrade(
-      args: ['--major-versions', '--transitive', 'foo'],
+      args: ['--major-versions', '--unlock-transitive', 'foo'],
       output: allOf(
         contains('> foo 2.0.0'),
         contains('> bar 1.5.0'),