diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/postgresql/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/postgresql/package.py
index 9a979f6216e..7bdbd86ac25 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/postgresql/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/postgresql/package.py
@@ -73,8 +73,7 @@ def configure_args(self):
         spec = self.spec
         args = ["--with-openssl"]
 
-        if spec.satisfies("+threadsafe"):
-            args.append(self.enable_or_disable("thread-safety"))
+        args.extend(self.enable_or_disable("thread-safety", variant="threadsafe"))
 
         if spec.variants["lineedit"].value == "libedit":
             args.append("--with-libedit-preferred")