diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 568e552..b35b924 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -115,6 +115,31 @@ Configuration
     Notifications will only be sent if the number of connected IRC clients is less than this
     value.  A value of 0 (zero) will disable this condition.
 
+*   `highlight = ""`
+
+    Space-separated list of highlight strings to match against channel messages using
+    case-insensitive, wildcard matching.    Strings will be compared in order they appear in the configuration value, and
+    the first string to match will end the search, meaning that earlier strings take priority
+    over later values.
+
+    Individual strings may be prefixed with:
+
+    *   `-` (hypen) to negate the match, which makes the string act as a filter rather than
+        a search
+
+    *   `_` (underscore) to trigger a "whole-word" match, where it must be surrounded by
+        whitespace to match the value
+
+    *   `*` (asterisk) to match highlight strings that start with any of the above prefixes
+
+    As an example, a highlight value of "-pinto car" will trigger notification on the
+    message "I like cars", but will prevent notifications for "My favorite car is the Pinto"
+    *and* "I like pinto beans".  Conversely, a highlight value of "car -pinto" will trigger
+    notifications for the first two messages, and only prevent notification of the last one.
+
+    As another example, a value of "_car" will trigger notification for the message "my car
+    is awesome", but will not match the message "I like cars".
+
 *   `idle = 0`
 
     Time in seconds since the last activity by the user on any channel or query window,
diff --git a/notifo.cpp b/notifo.cpp
index d2ba64d..818e8c2 100644
--- a/notifo.cpp
+++ b/notifo.cpp
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ class CNotifoMod : public CModule
 			defaults["away_only"] = "no";
 #endif
 			defaults["client_count_less_than"] = "0";
+			defaults["highlight"] = "";
 			defaults["idle"] = "0";
 			defaults["last_active"] = "180";
 			defaults["last_notification"] = "300";
@@ -212,6 +213,35 @@ class CNotifoMod : public CModule
 		 */
 		bool highlight(const CString& message)
 		{
+			CString msg = " " + message.AsLower() + " ";
+
+			VCString values;
+			options["highlight"].Split(" ", values, false);
+
+			for (VCString::iterator i = values.begin(); i != values.end(); i++)
+			{
+				CString value = i->AsLower();
+				char prefix = value[0];
+				bool notify = true;
+
+				if (prefix == '-')
+				{
+					notify = false;
+					value.LeftChomp(1);
+				}
+				else if (prefix == '_')
+				{
+					value = " " + value.LeftChomp_n(1) + " ";
+				}
+
+				value = "*" + value + "*";
+
+				if (msg.WildCmp(value))
+				{
+					return notify;
+				}
+			}
+
 			CNick nick = user->GetIRCNick();
 
 			if (message.find(nick.GetNick()) != string::npos)