diff --git a/pkg/controller/namespace/deletion/namespaced_resources_deleter.go b/pkg/controller/namespace/deletion/namespaced_resources_deleter.go
index 4ca90cb792a..70d51168b1f 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/namespace/deletion/namespaced_resources_deleter.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/namespace/deletion/namespaced_resources_deleter.go
@@ -422,7 +422,8 @@ func (d *namespacedResourcesDeleter) deleteEachItem(gvr schema.GroupVersionResou
 }
 
 type gvrDeletionMetadata struct {
-	// finalizerEstimateSeconds is an estimate of how much longer to wait
+	// finalizerEstimateSeconds is an estimate of how much longer to wait.  zero means that no estimate has made and does not
+	// mean that all content has been removed.
 	finalizerEstimateSeconds int64
 	// numRemaining is how many instances of the gvr remain
 	numRemaining int
diff --git a/pkg/controller/namespace/deletion/status_condition_utils.go b/pkg/controller/namespace/deletion/status_condition_utils.go
index 18820972771..e9656675523 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/namespace/deletion/status_condition_utils.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/namespace/deletion/status_condition_utils.go
@@ -56,14 +56,14 @@ var (
 		v1.NamespaceDeletionGVParsingFailure: "All legacy kube types successfully parsed",
 		v1.NamespaceDeletionContentFailure:   "All content successfully deleted, may be waiting on finalization",
 		v1.NamespaceContentRemaining:         "All content successfully removed",
-		v1.NamespaceFinalizersRemaining:      "All content successfully removed",
+		v1.NamespaceFinalizersRemaining:      "All content-preserving finalizers finished",
 	}
 	okReasons = map[v1.NamespaceConditionType]string{
 		v1.NamespaceDeletionDiscoveryFailure: "ResourcesDiscovered",
 		v1.NamespaceDeletionGVParsingFailure: "ParsedGroupVersions",
 		v1.NamespaceDeletionContentFailure:   "ContentDeleted",
 		v1.NamespaceContentRemaining:         "ContentRemoved",
-		v1.NamespaceFinalizersRemaining:      "ContentRemoved",
+		v1.NamespaceFinalizersRemaining:      "ContentHasNoFinalizers",
 	}
 )
 
@@ -133,8 +133,8 @@ func (u *namespaceConditionUpdater) ProcessContentTotals(contentTotals allGVRDel
 			Type:               v1.NamespaceFinalizersRemaining,
 			Status:             v1.ConditionTrue,
 			LastTransitionTime: metav1.Now(),
-			Reason:             "SomeFinalizerRemain",
-			Message:            fmt.Sprintf("Some finalizers are remaining: %s", strings.Join(remainingByFinalizer, ", ")),
+			Reason:             "SomeFinalizersRemain",
+			Message:            fmt.Sprintf("Some content in the namespace has finalizers remaining: %s", strings.Join(remainingByFinalizer, ", ")),
 		})
 	}
 }
diff --git a/pkg/controller/namespace/deletion/status_condition_utils_test.go b/pkg/controller/namespace/deletion/status_condition_utils_test.go
index 424e3d064ba..3155d6acc2f 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/namespace/deletion/status_condition_utils_test.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/namespace/deletion/status_condition_utils_test.go
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ func TestProcessContentTotals(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 			expecteds: []v1.NamespaceCondition{
-				{Type: v1.NamespaceFinalizersRemaining, Status: v1.ConditionTrue, Reason: "SomeFinalizerRemain", Message: `Some finalizers are remaining: kubedb in 5 resource instances, service-catalog in 6 resource instances`},
+				{Type: v1.NamespaceFinalizersRemaining, Status: v1.ConditionTrue, Reason: "SomeFinalizersRemain", Message: `Some content in the namespace has finalizers remaining: kubedb in 5 resource instances, service-catalog in 6 resource instances`},
 			},
 		},
 		{
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ func TestProcessContentTotals(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			expecteds: []v1.NamespaceCondition{
 				{Type: v1.NamespaceContentRemaining, Status: v1.ConditionTrue, Reason: "SomeResourcesRemain", Message: `Some resources are remaining: daemonsets.apps.k8s.io has 5 resource instances, deployments.apps.k8s.io has 5 resource instances`},
-				{Type: v1.NamespaceFinalizersRemaining, Status: v1.ConditionTrue, Reason: "SomeFinalizerRemain", Message: `Some finalizers are remaining: kubedb in 5 resource instances, service-catalog in 6 resource instances`},
+				{Type: v1.NamespaceFinalizersRemaining, Status: v1.ConditionTrue, Reason: "SomeFinalizersRemain", Message: `Some content in the namespace has finalizers remaining: kubedb in 5 resource instances, service-catalog in 6 resource instances`},
 			},
 		},
 	}
diff --git a/test/integration/namespace/ns_conditions_test.go b/test/integration/namespace/ns_conditions_test.go
index e9c565ccee7..bba492be6c4 100644
--- a/test/integration/namespace/ns_conditions_test.go
+++ b/test/integration/namespace/ns_conditions_test.go
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ func TestNamespaceCondition(t *testing.T) {
 			if condition.Type == corev1.NamespaceContentRemaining && condition.Message == `Some resources are remaining: deployments.apps has 1 resource instances` {
 				conditionsFound++
 			}
-			if condition.Type == corev1.NamespaceFinalizersRemaining && condition.Message == `Some finalizers are remaining: custom.io/finalizer in 1 resource instances` {
+			if condition.Type == corev1.NamespaceFinalizersRemaining && condition.Message == `Some content in the namespace has finalizers remaining: custom.io/finalizer in 1 resource instances` {
 				conditionsFound++
 			}
 		}