diff --git a/java/java-analysis-impl/src/com/intellij/codeInspection/compiler/JavacQuirksInspectionVisitor.java b/java/java-analysis-impl/src/com/intellij/codeInspection/compiler/JavacQuirksInspectionVisitor.java
index 63d4c891d255..d120fd80411f 100644
--- a/java/java-analysis-impl/src/com/intellij/codeInspection/compiler/JavacQuirksInspectionVisitor.java
+++ b/java/java-analysis-impl/src/com/intellij/codeInspection/compiler/JavacQuirksInspectionVisitor.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package com.intellij.codeInspection.compiler;
 
 import com.intellij.codeInsight.daemon.JavaErrorMessages;
 import com.intellij.codeInspection.InspectionsBundle;
+import com.intellij.codeInspection.ProblemHighlightType;
 import com.intellij.codeInspection.ProblemsHolder;
 import com.intellij.patterns.ElementPattern;
 import com.intellij.pom.java.LanguageLevel;
@@ -69,9 +70,11 @@ public class JavacQuirksInspectionVisitor extends JavaElementVisitor {
   @Override
   public void visitIdentifier(PsiIdentifier identifier) {
     super.visitIdentifier(identifier);
-    if (PsiUtil.getLanguageLevel(identifier).isAtLeast(LanguageLevel.JDK_1_8)) {
+    final LanguageLevel languageLevel = PsiUtil.getLanguageLevel(identifier);
+    if (languageLevel.isAtLeast(LanguageLevel.JDK_1_8)) {
       if ("_".equals(identifier.getText())) {
-        myHolder.registerProblem(identifier, JavaErrorMessages.message("underscore.identifier"));
+        myHolder.registerProblem(identifier, JavaErrorMessages.message("underscore.identifier"),
+                                 languageLevel.isAtLeast(LanguageLevel.JDK_1_9) ? ProblemHighlightType.ERROR : ProblemHighlightType.GENERIC_ERROR_OR_WARNING);
       }
     }
   }