diff --git a/src/compiler/parse/read/style.ts b/src/compiler/parse/read/style.ts
index dd9d1286f2..70633cc6a8 100644
--- a/src/compiler/parse/read/style.ts
+++ b/src/compiler/parse/read/style.ts
@@ -54,6 +54,13 @@ export default function read_style(parser: Parser, start: number, attributes: No
 				}, node.start);
 			}
 
+			if (node.type === 'PseudoClassSelector' && node.name === 'global' && node.children === null) {
+				parser.error({
+					code: `css-global-without-selector`,
+					message: `:global() must contain a selector, cannot be used on its own`
+				}, node.loc.start.offset);
+			}
+
 			if (node.loc) {
 				node.start = node.loc.start.offset;
 				node.end = node.loc.end.offset;
@@ -87,4 +94,4 @@ function is_ref_selector(a: any, b: any) { // TODO add CSS node types
 		a.name === 'ref' &&
 		b.type === 'PseudoClassSelector'
 	);
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/test/parser/samples/error-css-global-without-selector/error.json b/test/parser/samples/error-css-global-without-selector/error.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1759181e84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parser/samples/error-css-global-without-selector/error.json
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{
+	"code": "css-global-without-selector",
+	"message": ":global() must contain a selector, cannot be used on its own",
+	"start": {
+		"line": 2,
+		"column": 1,
+		"character": 9
+	},
+	"pos": 9
+}
diff --git a/test/parser/samples/error-css-global-without-selector/input.svelte b/test/parser/samples/error-css-global-without-selector/input.svelte
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a626136cfc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parser/samples/error-css-global-without-selector/input.svelte
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+<style>
+	:global {}
+</style>