diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 057bcd9..e668e95 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ have_win = false
 # if pkg-config is not found, which is really the most reliable way of building
 # abseil due to strict C++ standard match requirements.
 absl_dep = [
-  dependency('absl_base'),
+  dependency('absl_base', default_options: ['cpp_std=c++17']),
   dependency('absl_flags'),
   dependency('absl_strings'),
   dependency('absl_synchronization'),