diff --git a/cpp/CMakeLists.txt b/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
index 0903609c1e2..6f8b98a0e0f 100644
--- a/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -711,6 +711,8 @@ add_library(cudf::cudftestutil ALIAS cudftestutil)
 if(CUDF_BUILD_TESTS)
   # include CTest module -- automatically calls enable_testing()
   include(CTest)
+  # Always print verbose output when tests fail if run using `make test`.
+  list(APPEND CMAKE_CTEST_ARGUMENTS "--output-on-failure")
   add_subdirectory(tests)
 endif()