diff --git a/src/bits.h b/src/bits.h
index 008579a9..2aad9502 100644
--- a/src/bits.h
+++ b/src/bits.h
@@ -928,6 +928,9 @@ void mdbx_panic(const char *fmt, ...)
 /* assert(3) variant in transaction context */
 #define mdbx_tassert(txn, expr) mdbx_assert((txn)->mt_env, expr)
 
+#undef assert
+#define assert(expr) mdbx_assert(NULL, expr)
+
 static __inline void mdbx_jitter4testing(bool tiny) {
 #ifndef NDEBUG
   if (MDBX_DBG_JITTER & mdbx_runtime_flags)