diff --git a/internal/lang/funcs/cidr.go b/internal/lang/funcs/cidr.go
index 604cd43cbc0f..28b636a24afd 100644
--- a/internal/lang/funcs/cidr.go
+++ b/internal/lang/funcs/cidr.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 package funcs
 
 import (
-	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"math/big"
 	"sort"
@@ -24,7 +23,7 @@ var CidrCollapseFunc = function.New(&function.Spec{
 			Type: cty.List(cty.String),
 		},
 	},
-	Type:         function.StaticReturnType(cty.String),
+	Type:         function.StaticReturnType(cty.List(cty.String)),
 	RefineResult: refineNotNull,
 	Impl: func(args []cty.Value, retType cty.Type) (cty.Value, error) {
 		var cidrsInput []string
@@ -55,18 +54,15 @@ var CidrCollapseFunc = function.New(&function.Spec{
 			}
 		}
 
-		var collapsedCidrs []string
+		retVals := []cty.Value{}
 		for _, net := range cidrs {
-			collapsedCidrs = append(collapsedCidrs, net.String())
+			retVals = append(retVals, cty.StringVal(net.String()))
 		}
-		sort.Strings(collapsedCidrs)
+		sort.Slice(retVals, func(i, j int) bool {
+			return i > j
+		})
 
-		val, err := json.Marshal(collapsedCidrs)
-		if err != nil {
-			return cty.UnknownVal(cty.String), err
-		}
-
-		return cty.StringVal(string(val)), nil
+		return cty.ListVal(retVals), nil
 	},
 })
 
diff --git a/internal/lang/funcs/cidr_test.go b/internal/lang/funcs/cidr_test.go
index 3d8274fee9c5..7bbb737b31f9 100644
--- a/internal/lang/funcs/cidr_test.go
+++ b/internal/lang/funcs/cidr_test.go
@@ -409,8 +409,10 @@ func TestCidrCollapse(t *testing.T) {
 				cty.StringVal("192.168.0.56/32"),
 				cty.StringVal("192.0.0.0/8"),
 			}),
-			Want: cty.StringVal("[\"192.0.0.0/8\"]"),
-			Err:  "",
+			Want: cty.ListVal([]cty.Value{
+				cty.StringVal("192.0.0.0/8"),
+			}),
+			Err: "",
 		},
 		{
 			Cidrs: cty.ListVal([]cty.Value{
@@ -418,8 +420,11 @@ func TestCidrCollapse(t *testing.T) {
 				cty.StringVal("167.123.0.42/32"),
 				cty.StringVal("167.123.0.0/16"),
 			}),
-			Want: cty.StringVal("[\"167.123.0.0/16\",\"192.168.0.0/16\"]"),
-			Err:  "",
+			Want: cty.ListVal([]cty.Value{
+				cty.StringVal("167.123.0.0/16"),
+				cty.StringVal("192.168.0.0/16"),
+			}),
+			Err: "",
 		},
 	}
 
diff --git a/website/data/language-nav-data.json b/website/data/language-nav-data.json
index d96dad4d5bcf..1503a7c5d70b 100644
--- a/website/data/language-nav-data.json
+++ b/website/data/language-nav-data.json
@@ -690,6 +690,10 @@
           {
             "title": "<code>cidrsubnets</code>",
             "href": "/language/functions/cidrsubnets"
+          },
+          {
+            "title": "<code>cidrcollapse</code>",
+            "href": "/language/functions/cidrcollapse"
           }
         ]
       },
diff --git a/website/docs/language/functions/cidrcollapse.mdx b/website/docs/language/functions/cidrcollapse.mdx
index 7353fe41c458..7df4aa819822 100644
--- a/website/docs/language/functions/cidrcollapse.mdx
+++ b/website/docs/language/functions/cidrcollapse.mdx
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 page_title: cidrcollapse - Functions - Configuration Language
 description: |-
   The cidrcollapse function takes a list of CIDR ranges and collapses them into a
-  json encoded string of superset ranges
+  list of strings of superset ranges
 ---
 
 # `cidrcollapse` Function
@@ -16,11 +16,11 @@ cidrcollapse(cidrs)
 
 `cidrs` must be given as a list of valid CIDR ranges.
 
-The result is a JSON encoded string value of superset ranges.
+The result is a string list value of superset ranges.
 
 ## Examples
 
 ```
 > cidrcollapse(["192.168.0.0/16", "167.123.0.42/32", "167.123.0.0/16"])
-"[\"167.123.0.0/16\",\"192.168.0.0/16\"]"
+["167.123.0.0/16","192.168.0.0/16"]
 ```
\ No newline at end of file