diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/display_verbosity.yml b/changelogs/fragments/display_verbosity.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a5bdf3fb35c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/display_verbosity.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - display itself should be single source of 'verbosity' level to the engine.
diff --git a/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py b/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py
index d027dfaeefb..06e78b6a151 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py
@@ -1212,7 +1212,7 @@ def start_connection(play_context, variables, task_uuid):
                     display.vvvv(message, host=play_context.remote_addr)
 
     if 'error' in result:
-        if play_context.verbosity > 2:
+        if display.verbosity > 2:
             if result.get('exception'):
                 msg = "The full traceback is:\n" + result['exception']
                 display.display(msg, color=C.COLOR_ERROR)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
index 87d85c4fb51..88ce93390b8 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
@@ -453,7 +453,7 @@ class ActionBase(ABC):
                 output = 'Authentication failure.'
             elif result['rc'] == 255 and self._connection.transport in ('ssh',):
 
-                if self._play_context.verbosity > 3:
+                if display.verbosity > 3:
                     output = u'SSH encountered an unknown error. The output was:\n%s%s' % (result['stdout'], result['stderr'])
                 else:
                     output = (u'SSH encountered an unknown error during the connection. '
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ class ActionBase(ABC):
                           'Failed command was: %s, exited with result %d' % (cmd, result['rc']))
             if 'stdout' in result and result['stdout'] != u'':
                 output = output + u", stdout output: %s" % result['stdout']
-            if self._play_context.verbosity > 3 and 'stderr' in result and result['stderr'] != u'':
+            if display.verbosity > 3 and 'stderr' in result and result['stderr'] != u'':
                 output += u", stderr output: %s" % result['stderr']
             raise AnsibleConnectionFailure(output)
         else:
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/psrp.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/psrp.py
index 1a386d1889d..daa3c8488af 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/psrp.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/psrp.py
@@ -876,7 +876,7 @@ if ($bytes_read -gt 0) {
                         % (command_name, str(error), position,
                            error.message, error.fq_error)
             stacktrace = error.script_stacktrace
-            if self._play_context.verbosity >= 3 and stacktrace is not None:
+            if display.verbosity >= 3 and stacktrace is not None:
                 error_msg += "\r\nStackTrace:\r\n%s" % stacktrace
             stderr_list.append(error_msg)
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py
index 328f753ca68..3c73fd742cd 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/ssh.py
@@ -698,7 +698,7 @@ class Connection(ConnectionBase):
                 self._add_args(b_command, b_args, u'disable batch mode for sshpass')
             b_command += [b'-b', b'-']
 
-        if self._play_context.verbosity > 3:
+        if display.verbosity > 3:
             b_command.append(b'-vvv')
 
         # Next, we add ssh_args
diff --git a/test/units/plugins/action/test_action.py b/test/units/plugins/action/test_action.py
index a36e2285347..0a50bdd4651 100644
--- a/test/units/plugins/action/test_action.py
+++ b/test/units/plugins/action/test_action.py
@@ -308,7 +308,6 @@ class TestActionBase(unittest.TestCase):
         # ssh error
         action_base._low_level_execute_command.return_value = dict(rc=255, stdout='', stderr='')
         self.assertRaises(AnsibleError, action_base._make_tmp_path, 'root')
-        play_context.verbosity = 5
         self.assertRaises(AnsibleError, action_base._make_tmp_path, 'root')
 
         # general error