diff --git a/cogl/cogl-material.c b/cogl/cogl-material.c
index 01bd2e420..f9e6e74ed 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl-material.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl-material.c
@@ -2556,7 +2556,7 @@ cogl_material_set_layer_point_sprite_coords_enabled (CoglMaterial *material,
     {
       if (error)
         {
-          g_set_error (error, COGL_ERROR, COGL_ERROR_MISSING_FEATURE,
+          g_set_error (error, COGL_ERROR, COGL_ERROR_UNSUPPORTED,
                        "Point sprite texture coordinates are enabled "
                        "for a layer but the GL driver does not support it.");
         }
@@ -4345,7 +4345,7 @@ cogl_material_set_depth_range (CoglMaterial *material,
 #else
   g_set_error (error,
                COGL_ERROR,
-               COGL_ERROR_MISSING_FEATURE,
+               COGL_ERROR_UNSUPPORTED,
                "glDepthRange not available on GLES 1");
   return FALSE;
 #endif
diff --git a/cogl/cogl-types.h b/cogl/cogl-types.h
index 2790640e7..b0e69c16e 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl-types.h
+++ b/cogl/cogl-types.h
@@ -429,18 +429,33 @@ cogl_blend_string_error_quark (void);
 
 /**
  * CoglError:
- * @COGL_ERROR_MISSING_FEATURE: You tried to use a feature not
- *    currently available; likely because of missing driver support.
+ * @COGL_ERROR_UNSUPPORTED: You tried to use a feature or
+ *    configuration not currently available.
  *
  * Error enumeration for Cogl
  *
+ * The @COGL_ERROR_UNSUPPORTED error can be thrown for a variety of
+ * reasons. For example:
+ *
+ * <itemizedlist>
+ *  <listitem><para>You've tried to use a feature that is not
+ *   advertised by cogl_get_features(). This could happen if you create
+ *   a non-sliced texture with a non-power-of-two size when
+ *   %COGL_FEATURE_TEXTURE_NPOT is not advertised.</para></listitem>
+ *  <listitem><para>The GPU can not handle the configuration you have
+ *   requested. An example might be if you try to use too many texture
+ *   layers in a single #CoglMaterial</para></listitem>
+ *  <listitem><para>The driver does not support some
+ *   configuration.</para></listiem>
+ * </itemizedlist>
+ *
  * Currently this is only used by Cogl API marked as experimental so
  * this enum should also be considered experimental.
  *
  * Since: 1.4
  */
 typedef enum { /*< prefix=COGL_ERROR >*/
-  COGL_ERROR_MISSING_FEATURE
+  COGL_ERROR_UNSUPPORTED
 } CoglError;
 
 GQuark