diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/utilities/logic/wait_for.py b/lib/ansible/modules/utilities/logic/wait_for.py
index 00f8d0a88d..a3ae8e17c6 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/utilities/logic/wait_for.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/utilities/logic/wait_for.py
@@ -85,6 +85,11 @@ options:
       - port number to poll
     required: false
     default: null
+  active_connection_states:
+    description:
+      - The list of tcp connection states which are counted as active connections
+    default: ['ESTABLISHED','SYN_SENT','SYN_RECV','FIN_WAIT1','FIN_WAIT2','TIME_WAIT']
+    version_added: "2.3"
   state:
     description:
       - either C(present), C(started), or C(stopped), C(absent), or C(drained)
@@ -194,14 +199,6 @@ class TCPConnectionInfo(object):
         'prefix': '::ffff',
         'match_all': '::ffff:0.0.0.0'
     }
-    connection_states = {
-        '01': 'ESTABLISHED',
-        '02': 'SYN_SENT',
-        '03': 'SYN_RECV',
-        '04': 'FIN_WAIT1',
-        '05': 'FIN_WAIT2',
-        '06': 'TIME_WAIT',
-    }
 
     def __new__(cls, *args, **kwargs):
         return load_platform_subclass(TCPConnectionInfo, args, kwargs)
@@ -227,7 +224,7 @@ class TCPConnectionInfo(object):
         for p in psutil.process_iter():
             connections = p.get_connections(kind='inet')
             for conn in connections:
-                if conn.status not in self.connection_states.values():
+                if conn.status not in self.module.params['active_connection_states']:
                     continue
                 (local_ip, local_port) = conn.local_address
                 if self.port != local_port:
@@ -295,7 +292,7 @@ class LinuxTCPConnectionInfo(TCPConnectionInfo):
                 tcp_connection = tcp_connection.strip().split()
                 if tcp_connection[self.local_address_field] == 'local_address':
                     continue
-                if tcp_connection[self.connection_state_field] not in self.connection_states:
+                if tcp_connection[self.connection_state_field] not in [ get_connection_state_id(_connection_state) for _connection_state in self.module.params['active_connection_states'] ]:
                     continue
                 (local_ip, local_port) = tcp_connection[self.local_address_field].split(':')
                 if self.port != local_port:
@@ -383,6 +380,17 @@ def _timedelta_total_seconds(timedelta):
         timedelta.microseconds + 0.0 +
         (timedelta.seconds + timedelta.days * 24 * 3600) * 10 ** 6) / 10 ** 6
 
+def get_connection_state_id(state):
+    connection_state_id = {
+       'ESTABLISHED': '01',
+       'SYN_SENT': '02',
+       'SYN_RECV': '03',
+       'FIN_WAIT1': '04',
+       'FIN_WAIT2': '05',
+       'TIME_WAIT': '06',
+    }
+    return connection_state_id[state]
+
 def main():
 
     module = AnsibleModule(
@@ -392,6 +400,7 @@ def main():
             connect_timeout=dict(default=5, type='int'),
             delay=dict(default=0, type='int'),
             port=dict(default=None, type='int'),
+            active_connection_states=dict(default=['ESTABLISHED','SYN_SENT','SYN_RECV','FIN_WAIT1','FIN_WAIT2','TIME_WAIT'], type='list'),
             path=dict(default=None, type='path'),
             search_regex=dict(default=None),
             state=dict(default='started', choices=['started', 'stopped', 'present', 'absent', 'drained']),
@@ -423,7 +432,11 @@ def main():
         module.fail_json(msg="state=drained should only be used for checking a port in the wait_for module")
     if params['exclude_hosts'] is not None and state != 'drained':
         module.fail_json(msg="exclude_hosts should only be with state=drained")
-
+    for _connection_state in params['active_connection_states']:
+        try: 
+            get_connection_state_id(_connection_state)
+        except:
+            module.fail_json(msg="unknown active_connection_state ("+_connection_state+") defined")
 
     start = datetime.datetime.now()