diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/misc/dictd.nix b/nixos/modules/services/misc/dictd.nix
index 8cb51bb0b7a7..6660d5e977ff 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/misc/dictd.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/misc/dictd.nix
@@ -62,6 +62,9 @@ in
       description = "DICT.org Dictionary Server";
       wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
       environment = { LOCALE_ARCHIVE = "/run/current-system/sw/lib/locale/locale-archive"; };
+      # Work around the fact that dictd doesn't handle SIGTERM; it terminates
+      # with code 143 instead of exiting with code 0.
+      serviceConfig.SuccessExitStatus = [ 143 ];
       serviceConfig.Type = "forking";
       script = "${pkgs.dict}/sbin/dictd -s -c ${dictdb}/share/dictd/dictd.conf --locale en_US.UTF-8";
     };