diff --git a/lib/commands/publish.js b/lib/commands/publish.js
index 5bec5f85ec3e0..c59588fefb241 100644
--- a/lib/commands/publish.js
+++ b/lib/commands/publish.js
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ class Publish extends BaseCommand {
     const isDefaultTag = this.npm.config.isDefault('tag')
 
     if (isPreRelease && isDefaultTag) {
-      throw new Error('You must specify a tag using --tag when publishing a prerelease version')
+      throw new Error('You must specify a tag using --tag when publishing a prerelease version.')
     }
 
     // If we are not in JSON mode then we show the user the contents of the tarball
@@ -161,7 +161,8 @@ class Publish extends BaseCommand {
     const latestSemverIsGreater = !!latestVersion && semver.gte(latestVersion, manifest.version)
 
     if (latestSemverIsGreater && isDefaultTag) {
-      throw new Error('Cannot publish a lower version without an explicit tag.')
+      /* eslint-disable-next-line max-len */
+      throw new Error(`Cannot implicitly apply the "latest" tag because published version ${latestVersion} is higher than the new version ${manifest.version}. You must specify a tag using --tag.`)
     }
 
     const access = opts.access === null ? 'default' : opts.access
diff --git a/test/lib/commands/publish.js b/test/lib/commands/publish.js
index aa5a556251f57..10dc9b33deda4 100644
--- a/test/lib/commands/publish.js
+++ b/test/lib/commands/publish.js
@@ -885,7 +885,8 @@ t.test('latest dist tag', (t) => {
     registry.publish(pkg, { noPut: true, packuments })
     await t.rejects(async () => {
       await npm.exec('publish', [])
-    }, new Error('Cannot publish a lower version without an explicit tag.'))
+      /* eslint-disable-next-line max-len */
+    }, new Error('Cannot implicitly apply the "latest" tag because published version 100.0.0 is higher than the new version 99.0.0. You must specify a tag using --tag.'))
   })
 
   t.test('ALLOWS publish when latest is HIGHER than publishing version and flag', async t => {