diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index 3161b8b127..763e7d2434 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -85,6 +85,11 @@ source_suffix = '.rst'
 # The master toctree document.
 master_doc = 'index'
 
+# Interpret `single-backticks` to be a cross-reference to any kind of
+# referenceable object. Unresolvable or ambiguous references will emit a
+# warning at build time.
+default_role = 'any'
+
 # General information about the project.
 project = u'QEMU'
 copyright = u'2021, The QEMU Project Developers'