diff --git a/runtime/lua/man.lua b/runtime/lua/man.lua
index e5343234fc..114c94f9e5 100644
--- a/runtime/lua/man.lua
+++ b/runtime/lua/man.lua
@@ -576,8 +576,9 @@ function M.man_complete(arg_lead, cmd_line, _)
   end
 
   if #args == 1 then
-    -- XXX: This (full completion) is laggy, but without it tab-complete is broken. #31512
-    return complete('', '', '')
+    -- returning full completion is laggy. Require some arg_lead to complete
+    -- return complete('', '', '')
+    return {}
   end
 
   if arg_lead:match('^[^()]+%([^()]*$') then