diff --git a/rc/filetype/asciidoc.kak b/rc/filetype/asciidoc.kak
index a739954b..723842f7 100644
--- a/rc/filetype/asciidoc.kak
+++ b/rc/filetype/asciidoc.kak
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ add-highlighter shared/asciidoc/ regex \b_[^\n]+?_\b 0:+i
 add-highlighter shared/asciidoc/ regex __[^\n]+?__ 0:+i
 
 # Attributes
-add-highlighter shared/asciidoc/ regex ^:[-\w]+: 0:meta
+add-highlighter shared/asciidoc/ regex ^:(?:(?<neg>!?)[-\w]+|[-\w]+(?<neg>!?)): 0:meta neg:operator
 add-highlighter shared/asciidoc/ regex [^\\](\{[-\w]+\})[^\\]? 1:meta
 
 # Commands