diff --git a/syntax/man.nanorc b/syntax/man.nanorc
index b881ee59..26e38f1b 100644
--- a/syntax/man.nanorc
+++ b/syntax/man.nanorc
@@ -5,19 +5,19 @@ magic "troff or preprocessor input"
 comment ".\""
 
 # Section headers, title line, and indented paragraphs.
-color green "\.(SH|SS|TH) .*"
-color brightgreen "\.(SH|SS|TH) " "\.([HIT]P)"
+color green "^\.(SH|SS|TH) .*"
+color brightgreen "^\.(SH|SS|TH) " "^\.([HIT]P)"
 # Type faces, and normal paragraphs.
-color brightred "\.(B[IR]?|I[BR]?|R[BI]|S[BM]) .*"
-color brightblue "\.(B[IR]?|I[BR]?|R[BI]|S[BM]) " "\.([LP]?P)$"
+color brightred "^\.(B[IR]?|I[BR]?|R[BI]|S[BM]) .*"
+color brightblue "^\.(B[IR]?|I[BR]?|R[BI]|S[BM]) " "^\.([LP]?P)$"
 # Inline type faces.
 color magenta "\\f[BIPR]"
 # Relative margins, hyperlinks, and various other stuff.
-color yellow "\.(RS|RE|UR|UE|PD|DT)"
-color yellow "\.(ad|bp|br|ce|de|ds|el|ie|if|fi|ft|hy|ig|in|na|ne|nf|nh|ps|so|sp|ti|tr)"
+color yellow "^\.(RS|RE|UR|UE|PD|DT)"
+color yellow "^\.(ad|bp|br|ce|de|ds|el|ie|if|fi|ft|hy|ig|in|na|ne|nf|nh|ps|so|sp|ti|tr)"
 
 # Comments.
-color cyan "\.?\\\".*"
+color cyan "^\.?\\\".*"
 
 # Trailing whitespace.
 color ,green "[[:space:]]+$"