diff --git a/redis.conf b/redis.conf
index dcb5f6241..b1c8e4f0c 100644
--- a/redis.conf
+++ b/redis.conf
@@ -1086,21 +1086,26 @@ lazyfree-lazy-user-del no
 # for all its processes, depending on their role. The default scores will
 # attempt to have background child processes killed before all others, and
 # replicas killed before masters.
-
+#
+# Redis supports three options:
+#
+# no:       Don't make changes to oom-score-adj (default).
+# yes:      Alias to "relative" see below.
+# absolute: Values in oom-score-adj-values are written as is to the kernel.
+# relative: Values are used relative to the initial value of oom_score_adj when
+#           the server starts and are then clamped to a range of -1000 to 1000.
+#           Because typically the initial value is 0, they will often match the
+#           absolute values.
 oom-score-adj no
 
 # When oom-score-adj is used, this directive controls the specific values used
-# for master, replica and background child processes. Values range -1000 to
-# 1000 (higher means more likely to be killed).
+# for master, replica and background child processes. Values range -2000 to
+# 2000 (higher means more likely to be killed).
 #
 # Unprivileged processes (not root, and without CAP_SYS_RESOURCE capabilities)
 # can freely increase their value, but not decrease it below its initial
-# settings.
-#
-# Values are used relative to the initial value of oom_score_adj when the server
-# starts. Because typically the initial value is 0, they will often match the
-# absolute values.
-
+# settings. This means that setting oom-score-adj to "relative" and setting the
+# oom-score-adj-values to positive values will always succeed.
 oom-score-adj-values 0 200 800
 
 
diff --git a/src/config.c b/src/config.c
index 07ed91e5f..b4fd9bee9 100644
--- a/src/config.c
+++ b/src/config.c
@@ -104,6 +104,15 @@ configEnum tls_auth_clients_enum[] = {
     {"optional", TLS_CLIENT_AUTH_OPTIONAL},
     {NULL, 0}
 };
+
+configEnum oom_score_adj_enum[] = {
+    {"no", OOM_SCORE_ADJ_NO},
+    {"yes", OOM_SCORE_RELATIVE},
+    {"relative", OOM_SCORE_RELATIVE},
+    {"absolute", OOM_SCORE_ADJ_ABSOLUTE},
+    {NULL, 0}
+};
+
 /* Output buffer limits presets. */
 clientBufferLimitsConfig clientBufferLimitsDefaults[CLIENT_TYPE_OBUF_COUNT] = {
     {0, 0, 0}, /* normal */
@@ -293,7 +302,7 @@ void queueLoadModule(sds path, sds *argv, int argc) {
  * server.oom_score_adj_values if valid.
  */
 
-static int updateOOMScoreAdjValues(sds *args, char **err) {
+static int updateOOMScoreAdjValues(sds *args, char **err, int apply) {
     int i;
     int values[CONFIG_OOM_COUNT];
 
@@ -301,8 +310,8 @@ static int updateOOMScoreAdjValues(sds *args, char **err) {
         char *eptr;
         long long val = strtoll(args[i], &eptr, 10);
 
-        if (*eptr != '\0' || val < -1000 || val > 1000) {
-            if (err) *err = "Invalid oom-score-adj-values, elements must be between -1000 and 1000.";
+        if (*eptr != '\0' || val < -2000 || val > 2000) {
+            if (err) *err = "Invalid oom-score-adj-values, elements must be between -2000 and 2000.";
             return C_ERR;
         }
 
@@ -326,6 +335,10 @@ static int updateOOMScoreAdjValues(sds *args, char **err) {
         old_values[i] = server.oom_score_adj_values[i];
         server.oom_score_adj_values[i] = values[i];
     }
+    
+    /* When parsing the config file, we want to apply only when all is done. */
+    if (!apply)
+        return C_OK;
 
     /* Update */
     if (setOOMScoreAdj(-1) == C_ERR) {
@@ -559,7 +572,7 @@ void loadServerConfigFromString(char *config) {
             server.client_obuf_limits[class].soft_limit_bytes = soft;
             server.client_obuf_limits[class].soft_limit_seconds = soft_seconds;
         } else if (!strcasecmp(argv[0],"oom-score-adj-values") && argc == 1 + CONFIG_OOM_COUNT) {
-            if (updateOOMScoreAdjValues(&argv[1], &err) == C_ERR) goto loaderr;
+            if (updateOOMScoreAdjValues(&argv[1], &err, 0) == C_ERR) goto loaderr;
         } else if (!strcasecmp(argv[0],"notify-keyspace-events") && argc == 2) {
             int flags = keyspaceEventsStringToFlags(argv[1]);
 
@@ -822,7 +835,7 @@ void configSetCommand(client *c) {
         int success = 1;
 
         sds *v = sdssplitlen(o->ptr, sdslen(o->ptr), " ", 1, &vlen);
-        if (vlen != CONFIG_OOM_COUNT || updateOOMScoreAdjValues(v, &errstr) == C_ERR)
+        if (vlen != CONFIG_OOM_COUNT || updateOOMScoreAdjValues(v, &errstr, 1) == C_ERR)
             success = 0;
 
         sdsfreesplitres(v, vlen);
@@ -2313,7 +2326,6 @@ standardConfig configs[] = {
     createBoolConfig("crash-log-enabled", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.crashlog_enabled, 1, NULL, updateSighandlerEnabled),
     createBoolConfig("crash-memcheck-enabled", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.memcheck_enabled, 1, NULL, NULL),
     createBoolConfig("use-exit-on-panic", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.use_exit_on_panic, 0, NULL, NULL),
-    createBoolConfig("oom-score-adj", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.oom_score_adj, 0, NULL, updateOOMScoreAdj),
     createBoolConfig("disable-thp", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.disable_thp, 1, NULL, NULL),
 
     /* String Configs */
@@ -2339,6 +2351,7 @@ standardConfig configs[] = {
     createEnumConfig("loglevel", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, loglevel_enum, server.verbosity, LL_NOTICE, NULL, NULL),
     createEnumConfig("maxmemory-policy", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, maxmemory_policy_enum, server.maxmemory_policy, MAXMEMORY_NO_EVICTION, NULL, NULL),
     createEnumConfig("appendfsync", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, aof_fsync_enum, server.aof_fsync, AOF_FSYNC_EVERYSEC, NULL, NULL),
+    createEnumConfig("oom-score-adj", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, oom_score_adj_enum, server.oom_score_adj, OOM_SCORE_ADJ_NO, NULL, updateOOMScoreAdj),
 
     /* Integer configs */
     createIntConfig("databases", NULL, IMMUTABLE_CONFIG, 1, INT_MAX, server.dbnum, 16, INTEGER_CONFIG, NULL, NULL),
diff --git a/src/server.c b/src/server.c
index ac5b30e90..3c1f1cb6b 100644
--- a/src/server.c
+++ b/src/server.c
@@ -2667,7 +2667,7 @@ static void readOOMScoreAdj(void) {
  */
 int setOOMScoreAdj(int process_class) {
 
-    if (!server.oom_score_adj) return C_OK;
+    if (server.oom_score_adj == OOM_SCORE_ADJ_NO) return C_OK;
     if (process_class == -1)
         process_class = (server.masterhost ? CONFIG_OOM_REPLICA : CONFIG_OOM_MASTER);
 
@@ -2678,7 +2678,9 @@ int setOOMScoreAdj(int process_class) {
     int val;
     char buf[64];
 
-    val = server.oom_score_adj_base + server.oom_score_adj_values[process_class];
+    val = server.oom_score_adj_values[process_class];
+    if (server.oom_score_adj == OOM_SCORE_RELATIVE)
+        val += server.oom_score_adj_base;
     if (val > 1000) val = 1000;
     if (val < -1000) val = -1000;
 
diff --git a/src/server.h b/src/server.h
index 53055897a..4690151c0 100644
--- a/src/server.h
+++ b/src/server.h
@@ -382,6 +382,11 @@ extern int configOOMScoreAdjValuesDefaults[CONFIG_OOM_COUNT];
 #define SET_OP_DIFF 1
 #define SET_OP_INTER 2
 
+/* oom-score-adj defines */
+#define OOM_SCORE_ADJ_NO 0
+#define OOM_SCORE_RELATIVE 1
+#define OOM_SCORE_ADJ_ABSOLUTE 2
+
 /* Redis maxmemory strategies. Instead of using just incremental number
  * for this defines, we use a set of flags so that testing for certain
  * properties common to multiple policies is faster. */