diff --git a/cmake/ThirdPartyMPI.cmake b/cmake/ThirdPartyMPI.cmake
index 7c00f64485d3212329bb1e424872e27d24592b85..0733fe99ab6ee1fcf3a54e477f82d6a75ecefc7b 100644
--- a/cmake/ThirdPartyMPI.cmake
+++ b/cmake/ThirdPartyMPI.cmake
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ IF( NEKTAR_USE_MPI )
 	UNSET(HAVE_APRUN CACHE)
     ENDIF()
 
+    ADD_DEFINITIONS(-DNEKTAR_USE_MPI)
+
     IF (THIRDPARTY_BUILD_GSMPI)
         EXTERNALPROJECT_ADD(
             gsmpi-1.2
diff --git a/library/LibUtilities/CMakeLists.txt b/library/LibUtilities/CMakeLists.txt
index 86a98d75d3367445166d3d7e1bdaaa5ad06c646f..65f699fac1cc12702e16c9630f11fcf16581c470 100644
--- a/library/LibUtilities/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/library/LibUtilities/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -411,7 +411,6 @@ ENDIF()
 # MPI
 IF( NEKTAR_USE_MPI )
     TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(LibUtilities LINK_PRIVATE ${GSMPI_LIBRARY} ${XXT_LIBRARY})
-    TARGET_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS(LibUtilities PUBLIC "-DNEKTAR_USE_MPI")
     IF (NOT MPI_BUILTIN)
         TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(LibUtilities LINK_PUBLIC ${MPI_LIBRARY} ${MPI_EXTRA_LIBRARY})
         SET_TARGET_PROPERTIES(LibUtilities
diff --git a/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index 16c1335e5115c456315d7eb7ea3a1f3e5a03dd73..e22573a31d55e17c8a0506cfd30003509a0355f1 100644
--- a/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -53,6 +53,9 @@ IF( ${CMAKE_SYSTEM} MATCHES "Darwin-*")
     PROPERTIES LINK_FLAGS "-Wl,-undefined,dynamic_lookup -Wl,-rpath,${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${LIB_DIR} -Wl,-rpath,${Boost_LIBRARY_DIRS}")
 ENDIF( ${CMAKE_SYSTEM} MATCHES "Darwin-*")
 
+SET_TARGET_PROPERTIES(Tester
+    PROPERTIES COMPILE_FLAGS "-UNEKTAR_USE_MPI")
+
 INSTALL(TARGETS Tester
   RUNTIME DESTINATION ${NEKTAR_BIN_DIR} COMPONENT test OPTIONAL
   ARCHIVE DESTINATION ${NEKTAR_LIB_DIR} COMPONENT test OPTIONAL