diff --git a/src/common/string.cpp b/src/common/string.cpp
index 12e8525613..e9ca33871f 100644
--- a/src/common/string.cpp
+++ b/src/common/string.cpp
@@ -209,8 +209,8 @@ bool wxStringBase::AllocBuffer(size_t nLen)
   wxASSERT( nLen >  0 );
 
   // make sure that we don't overflow
-  wxASSERT( nLen < (INT_MAX / sizeof(wxChar)) -
-                   (sizeof(wxStringData) + EXTRA_ALLOC + 1) );
+  wxCHECK( nLen < (INT_MAX / sizeof(wxChar)) -
+                  (sizeof(wxStringData) + EXTRA_ALLOC + 1), false );
 
   STATISTICS_ADD(Length, nLen);