diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 8e45a2689a1..fc5a32ae9b8 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1639,7 +1639,7 @@ endif
 dep_futex = null_dep
 if host_machine.system() == 'windows'
   if (get_option('min-windows-version') < 8)
-    dep_futex = declare_dependency(compile_args : ['-DWINDOWS_NO_FUTEX'])
+    pre_args += '-DWINDOWS_NO_FUTEX'
   else
     dep_futex = cc.find_library('synchronization', required : true)
   endif