diff --git a/.dir-locals.el b/.dir-locals.el
index eb3c2ad7..0cf59658 100644
--- a/.dir-locals.el
+++ b/.dir-locals.el
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
   (indent-tabs-mode))
  (emacs-lisp-mode
   (byte-compile-warnings . (not cl-functions))
-  (whitespace-style face trailing lines-tail)
+  (whitespace-style face tabs trailing lines-tail)
   (whitespace-line-column . 80)
   (eval ignore-errors
         "Write-contents-functions is a buffer-local alternative to before-save-hook"