diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/googletest/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/googletest/package.py
index f1b1424f73..4c523fd41b 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/googletest/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/googletest/package.py
@@ -44,10 +44,10 @@ class Googletest(CMakePackage):
     def cmake_args(self):
         spec = self.spec
         args = [
-            self.define_from_variant("gtest_disable_pthreads", "pthreads"),
             self.define_from_variant("BUILD_SHARED_LIBS", "shared"),
             self.define_from_variant("CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD", "cxxstd"),
         ]
+        args.append(self.define("gtest_disable_pthreads", not spec.satisfies("pthreads")))
         if spec.satisfies("@1.8:"):
             # New style (contains both Google Mock and Google Test)
             args.append(self.define("BUILD_GTEST", True))