diff --git a/pkgs/tools/virtualization/nixos-container/nixos-container.pl b/pkgs/tools/virtualization/nixos-container/nixos-container.pl
index ec2e05c387a5..7ad8d34344cc 100755
--- a/pkgs/tools/virtualization/nixos-container/nixos-container.pl
+++ b/pkgs/tools/virtualization/nixos-container/nixos-container.pl
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ Usage: nixos-container list
        nixos-container destroy <container-name>
        nixos-container start <container-name>
        nixos-container stop <container-name>
-       nixos-container kill <container-name> [--signal <signal-specifier>]
+       nixos-container terminate <container-name>
        nixos-container status <container-name>
        nixos-container update <container-name> [--config <string>] [--config-file <path>]
        nixos-container login <container-name>
@@ -210,12 +210,9 @@ sub isContainerRunning {
     return $status =~ /ActiveState=active/;
 }
 
-sub killContainer {
-    my @args = ();
-    push(@args, ("--signal", $signal)) if ($signal ne "");
-
-    system("machinectl", "kill", $containerName, @args) == 0
-        or die "$0: failed to kill container\n";
+sub terminateContainer {
+    system("machinectl", "terminate", $containerName) == 0
+        or die "$0: failed to terminate container\n";
 }
 
 sub stopContainer {
@@ -260,8 +257,7 @@ if ($action eq "destroy") {
     die "$0: cannot destroy declarative container (remove it from your configuration.nix instead)\n"
         unless POSIX::access($confFile, &POSIX::W_OK);
 
-    $signal = "SIGKILL";
-    killContainer if (isContainerRunning);
+    terminateContainer if (isContainerRunning);
 
     safeRemoveTree($profileDir) if -e $profileDir;
     safeRemoveTree($gcRootsDir) if -e $gcRootsDir;
@@ -278,8 +274,8 @@ elsif ($action eq "stop") {
     stopContainer;
 }
 
-elsif ($action eq "kill") {
-    killContainer;
+elsif ($action eq "terminate") {
+    terminateContainer;
 }
 
 elsif ($action eq "status") {