diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/ClusterStateObserver.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/ClusterStateObserver.java
index 3e61c203fd0..5aafbab78da 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/ClusterStateObserver.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/ClusterStateObserver.java
@@ -252,6 +252,11 @@ public class ClusterStateObserver {
                 context.listener.onTimeout(timeOutValue);
             }
         }
+
+        @Override
+        public String toString() {
+            return "ClusterStateObserver[" + observingContext.get() + "]";
+        }
     }
 
     /**
@@ -293,6 +298,11 @@ public class ClusterStateObserver {
             this.listener = listener;
             this.statePredicate = statePredicate;
         }
+
+        @Override
+        public String toString() {
+            return "ObservingContext[" + listener + "]";
+        }
     }
 
     private static final class ContextPreservingListener implements Listener {
@@ -325,5 +335,10 @@ public class ClusterStateObserver {
                 delegate.onTimeout(timeout);
             }
         }
+
+        @Override
+        public String toString() {
+            return "ContextPreservingListener[" + delegate + "]";
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/ClusterStateObserverTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/ClusterStateObserverTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..76b677ea2a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/ClusterStateObserverTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.elasticsearch.cluster;
+
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNodes;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.service.ClusterApplierService;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.ThreadContext;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
+
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
+import static org.mockito.Matchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doAnswer;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+public class ClusterStateObserverTests extends ESTestCase {
+
+    public void testClusterStateListenerToStringIncludesListenerToString() {
+        final ClusterApplierService clusterApplierService = mock(ClusterApplierService.class);
+        final AtomicBoolean listenerAdded = new AtomicBoolean();
+
+        doAnswer(invocation -> {
+            assertThat(Arrays.toString(invocation.getArguments()), containsString("test-listener"));
+            listenerAdded.set(true);
+            return null;
+        }).when(clusterApplierService).addTimeoutListener(any(), any());
+
+        final ClusterState clusterState = ClusterState.builder(new ClusterName("test")).nodes(DiscoveryNodes.builder()).build();
+        when(clusterApplierService.state()).thenReturn(clusterState);
+
+        final ClusterStateObserver clusterStateObserver
+                = new ClusterStateObserver(clusterState, clusterApplierService, null, logger, new ThreadContext(Settings.EMPTY));
+        clusterStateObserver.waitForNextChange(new ClusterStateObserver.Listener() {
+            @Override
+            public void onNewClusterState(ClusterState state) {
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public void onClusterServiceClose() {
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public void onTimeout(TimeValue timeout) {
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public String toString() {
+                return "test-listener";
+            }
+        });
+
+        assertTrue(listenerAdded.get());
+    }
+
+}