diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/re2/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/re2/package.py
index 0932968d18..586bb3dc3f 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/re2/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/re2/package.py
@@ -40,5 +40,6 @@ def cmake_args(self):
         args = [
             self.define_from_variant("BUILD_SHARED_LIBS", "shared"),
             self.define_from_variant("CMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE", "pic"),
+            f"-DCMAKE_CXX_STANDARD={self.spec['abseil-cpp'].variants['cxxstd'].value}",
         ]
         return args