diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/llvm/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/llvm/package.py
index fcde0bba3cb..cfafca3abf7 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/llvm/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/llvm/package.py
@@ -345,7 +345,8 @@ class Llvm(CMakePackage, CudaPackage, LlvmDetection, CompilerPackage):
         depends_on("libedit")
         depends_on("libxml2")
         depends_on("lua@5.3", when="+lua")  # purposefully not a range
-        depends_on("ncurses")
+        depends_on("ncurses~termlib", when="@19:")
+        depends_on("ncurses", when="@:19")
         depends_on("py-six", when="+python")
         depends_on("swig", when="+lua")
         depends_on("swig", when="+python")