diff --git a/lisp/thingatpt.el b/lisp/thingatpt.el
index c52fcfcc05..b9f7c116e3 100644
--- a/lisp/thingatpt.el
+++ b/lisp/thingatpt.el
@@ -604,6 +604,10 @@ thing-at-point-email-regexp
 
 (put 'buffer 'end-op (lambda () (goto-char (point-max))))
 (put 'buffer 'beginning-op (lambda () (goto-char (point-min))))
+(put 'region 'bounds-of-thing-at-point
+     (lambda ()
+       (when (use-region-p)
+         (cons (region-beginning) (region-end)))))
 
 ;; UUID