diff --git a/mercurial/commands.py b/mercurial/commands.py
--- a/mercurial/commands.py
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py
@@ -769,11 +769,8 @@
 
 
 def _dobackout(ui, repo, node=None, rev=None, **opts):
+    cmdutil.check_incompatible_arguments(opts, 'no_commit', ['commit', 'merge'])
     opts = pycompat.byteskwargs(opts)
-    if opts.get(b'commit') and opts.get(b'no_commit'):
-        raise error.Abort(_(b"cannot use --commit with --no-commit"))
-    if opts.get(b'merge') and opts.get(b'no_commit'):
-        raise error.Abort(_(b"cannot use --merge with --no-commit"))
 
     if rev and node:
         raise error.Abort(_(b"please specify just one revision"))
diff --git a/tests/test-backout.t b/tests/test-backout.t
--- a/tests/test-backout.t
+++ b/tests/test-backout.t
@@ -804,5 +804,5 @@
 --no-commit can't be used with --merge
 
   $ hg backout --merge --no-commit 2
-  abort: cannot use --merge with --no-commit
+  abort: cannot specify both --no-commit and --merge
   [255]