diff --git a/makefile b/makefile
index ea4fe13ee4e..0908e743438 100644
--- a/makefile
+++ b/makefile
@@ -412,7 +412,7 @@ endif
 
 # define MAME_DEBUG if we are a debugging build
 ifdef DEBUG
-DEFS += -DMAME_DEBUG -DDEBUG -D_DEBUG
+DEFS += -DMAME_DEBUG
 else
 DEFS += -DNDEBUG 
 endif