diff --git a/module/language/elisp/compile-tree-il.scm b/module/language/elisp/compile-tree-il.scm
index 702272e81..daa062375 100644
--- a/module/language/elisp/compile-tree-il.scm
+++ b/module/language/elisp/compile-tree-il.scm
@@ -782,7 +782,8 @@
                                           args
                                           body))))
                   (make-const loc name))))
-           (compile tree-il #:from 'tree-il #:to 'value)
+           (when (fluid-ref toplevel?)
+             (compile tree-il #:from 'tree-il #:to 'value))
            tree-il)))
     (else (report-error loc "bad defmacro" args))))