diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index d8e0e1bb..80b85f81 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ add_project_arguments(
     '-Wold-style-definition',
     '-Wredundant-decls',
     '-Wstrict-prototypes',
-    '-Wunused-function',
+    '-Wunused',
   ],
   language: 'c'
 )
@@ -38,6 +38,16 @@ conf_data = configuration_data()
 if get_option('buildtype').startswith('debug')
     add_project_arguments('-DDEBUG=1', language : 'c')
 endif
+
+if get_option('strict')
+    add_project_arguments(
+        [
+            '-Werror=unused',
+        ],
+        language: 'c'
+    )
+endif
+
 if get_option('buildtype') != 'plain'
     add_project_arguments('-fstack-protector-strong', language: 'c')
 endif
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 180f12f3..bb68374d 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -10,3 +10,7 @@ option('tests',
 option('legacy',
        type: 'boolean', value: false,
        description: 'Build with Deban Buster versions of dependencies')
+
+option('strict',
+       type: 'boolean', value: true,
+       description: 'Turn more warnings into errors')