diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Muse.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Muse.hs
index 404ebf7bc..ea46507db 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Muse.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Muse.hs
@@ -287,7 +287,8 @@ conditionalEscapeString s =
   if any (`elem` ("#*<=>[]|" :: String)) s ||
      "::" `isInfixOf` s ||
      "----" `isInfixOf` s ||
-     "~~" `isInfixOf` s
+     "~~" `isInfixOf` s ||
+     "-" == s
     then escapeString s
     else s
 
diff --git a/test/Tests/Writers/Muse.hs b/test/Tests/Writers/Muse.hs
index 7aec8122a..ab5eaa205 100644
--- a/test/Tests/Writers/Muse.hs
+++ b/test/Tests/Writers/Muse.hs
@@ -301,6 +301,15 @@ tests = [ testGroup "block elements"
             -- We don't want colons to be escaped if they can't be confused
             -- with definition list item markers.
             , "do not escape colon" =: str ":" =?> ":"
+            , "escape - to avoid accidental unordered lists" =: text " - foo" =?> " <verbatim>-</verbatim> foo"
+            , "escape - inside a list to avoid accidental nested unordered lists" =:
+              bulletList [ (para $ text "foo") <>
+                           (para $ text "- bar")
+                         ] =?>
+              unlines [ " - foo"
+                      , ""
+                      , "   <verbatim>-</verbatim> bar"
+                      ]
             ]
           , testGroup "emphasis"
             [ "emph" =: emph (text "foo") =?> "<em>foo</em>"
diff --git a/test/writer.muse b/test/writer.muse
index 6cb766955..5db3871a1 100644
--- a/test/writer.muse
+++ b/test/writer.muse
@@ -594,7 +594,7 @@ Bang: !
 
 Plus: +
 
-Minus: -
+Minus: <verbatim>-</verbatim>
 
 ----