diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index ea2050b6b..a8c6b9621 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -493,12 +493,6 @@ add_project_arguments(
   '-Wdeprecated-copy',
   '-Wignored-qualifiers',
   '-Werror=suggest-override',
-  # Enable assertions in libstdc++ by default. Harmless on libc++. Benchmarked
-  # at ~1% overhead in `nix search`.
-  #
-  # FIXME: remove when we get meson 1.4.0 which will default this to on for us:
-  # https://mesonbuild.com/Release-notes-for-1-4-0.html#ndebug-setting-now-controls-c-stdlib-assertions
-  '-D_GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS=1',
   language : 'cpp',
 )