diff --git a/ports/lua/CMakeLists.txt b/ports/lua/CMakeLists.txt
index f929c41c94..68de76788f 100644
--- a/ports/lua/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/ports/lua/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -25,16 +25,16 @@ src/ltable.c src/ltablib.c src/ltm.c src/lundump.c src/lutf8lib.c src/lvm.c src/
 # append headers to sources to make them show up in MSVC GUI
 LIST(APPEND SRC_LIBLUA ${HDR_LIBLUA})
 
-IF (BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
-    ADD_DEFINITIONS ( -DLUA_BUILD_AS_DLL )
-ENDIF ()
-
 # remove warnings
 ADD_DEFINITIONS (-D_CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS )
 
 #DLL
 ADD_LIBRARY ( lua ${SRC_LIBLUA} )
 
+IF (BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
+    TARGET_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS (lua PRIVATE -DLUA_BUILD_AS_DLL )
+ENDIF ()
+
 INSTALL ( TARGETS lua
     RUNTIME DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/bin
     LIBRARY DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/lib