diff --git a/Source/cmTryCompileCommand.cxx b/Source/cmTryCompileCommand.cxx
index 44752eb8d..04a7a4d2d 100644
--- a/Source/cmTryCompileCommand.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmTryCompileCommand.cxx
@@ -153,7 +153,8 @@ int cmTryCompileCommand::CoreTryCompileCode(
       return -1;
       }
 
-    fprintf(fout, "ADD_DEFINITIONS(${COMPILE_DEFINITIONS})\n");
+    fprintf(fout, "SET(CMAKE_C_FLAGS ${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} ${COMPILE_DEFINITIONS})\n");
+    fprintf(fout, "SET(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS ${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} ${COMPILE_DEFINITIONS})\n");
     fprintf(fout, "INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES})\n");
     fprintf(fout, "LINK_DIRECTORIES(${LINK_DIRECTORIES})\n");
     // handle any compile flags we need to pass on