diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 05e699f5b..3d29678a4 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ ENABLE_PYOSYS := 1
 ENABLE_GCOV := 0
 ENABLE_GPROF := 0
 ENABLE_DEBUG := 0
-ENABLE_NDEBUG := 0
+ENABLE_NDEBUG := 1
 ENABLE_CCACHE := 0
 # sccache is not always a drop-in replacement for ccache in practice
 ENABLE_SCCACHE := 0