diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index 4170e35304a..a7d55096a5d 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -434,6 +434,8 @@ Other Changes
 * SOLR-8489: TestMiniSolrCloudCluster.createCollection to support extra & alternative collectionProperties
   (Christine Poerschke)
 
+* SOLR-8482: add & use QueryCommand.[gs]etTerminateEarly accessors. (Christine Poerschke)
+
 ==================  5.4.0 ==================
 
 Consult the LUCENE_CHANGES.txt file for additional, low level, changes in this release
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/search/SolrIndexSearcher.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/search/SolrIndexSearcher.java
index 17b07baedb8..63c4cc1130e 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/search/SolrIndexSearcher.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/search/SolrIndexSearcher.java
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ public class SolrIndexSearcher extends IndexSearcher implements Closeable,SolrIn
   private void buildAndRunCollectorChain(QueryResult qr, Query query,
       Collector collector, QueryCommand cmd, DelegatingCollector postFilter) throws IOException {
     
-    final boolean terminateEarly = (cmd.getFlags() & TERMINATE_EARLY) == TERMINATE_EARLY;
+    final boolean terminateEarly = cmd.getTerminateEarly();
     if (terminateEarly) {
       collector = new EarlyTerminatingCollector(collector, cmd.getLen());
     }
@@ -2556,6 +2556,11 @@ public class SolrIndexSearcher extends IndexSearcher implements Closeable,SolrIn
     public QueryCommand setNeedDocSet(boolean needDocSet) {
       return needDocSet ? setFlags(GET_DOCSET) : clearFlags(GET_DOCSET);
     }
+
+    public boolean getTerminateEarly() { return (flags & TERMINATE_EARLY) != 0; }
+    public QueryCommand setTerminateEarly(boolean segmentTerminateEarly) {
+      return segmentTerminateEarly ? setFlags(TERMINATE_EARLY) : clearFlags(TERMINATE_EARLY);
+    }
   }