diff --git a/src/vs/base/browser/ui/list/list.css b/src/vs/base/browser/ui/list/list.css
index aee0e716eae..ea1fb7a6591 100644
--- a/src/vs/base/browser/ui/list/list.css
+++ b/src/vs/base/browser/ui/list/list.css
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 .hc-black .monaco-list-row:hover { outline: 1px dashed #f38518; background: transparent; }
 
 /* Focus */
+.monaco-list.element-focused { outline: 0 !important; }
 .monaco-list-row.focused { background-color: #DCEBFC; }
 .vs-dark .monaco-list-row.focused { background-color: #073655; }
 .hc-black .monaco-list-row.focused { outline: 1px dotted #f38518; background: transparent }
diff --git a/src/vs/base/browser/ui/list/listWidget.ts b/src/vs/base/browser/ui/list/listWidget.ts
index 901ef728da6..9b46f1b84eb 100644
--- a/src/vs/base/browser/ui/list/listWidget.ts
+++ b/src/vs/base/browser/ui/list/listWidget.ts
@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@ export class List<T> implements IDisposable {
 	private eventBufferer: EventBufferer;
 	private view: ListView<T>;
 	private controller: Controller<T>;
+	private disposables: IDisposable[];
 
 	get onFocusChange(): Event<IFocusChangeEvent<T>> {
 		return this.eventBufferer.wrapEvent(mapEvent(this.focus.onChange, e => this.toListEvent(e)));
@@ -244,8 +245,10 @@ export class List<T> implements IDisposable {
 		this.view.domNode.setAttribute('role', 'listbox');
 		this.view.domNode.tabIndex = 0;
 		this.controller = new Controller(this, this.view);
+		this.disposables = [this.focus, this.selection, this.view, this.controller];
 
 		this._onDOMFocus = domEvent(this.view.domNode, 'focus');
+		this.onFocusChange(this._onFocusChange, this, this.disposables);
 	}
 
 	splice(start: number, deleteCount: number, ...elements: T[]): void {
@@ -411,9 +414,11 @@ export class List<T> implements IDisposable {
 		return { indexes, elements: indexes.map(i => this.view.element(i)) };
 	}
 
+	private _onFocusChange(): void {
+		DOM.toggleClass(this.view.domNode, 'element-focused', this.focus.get().length > 0);
+	}
+
 	dispose(): void {
-		this.view = dispose(this.view);
-		this.focus = dispose(this.focus);
-		this.selection = dispose(this.selection);
+		this.disposables = dispose(this.disposables);
 	}
 }