diff --git a/Include/internal/pycore_ceval.h b/Include/internal/pycore_ceval.h
index 53d0b5c4549bc1..9e264c1c02c46d 100644
--- a/Include/internal/pycore_ceval.h
+++ b/Include/internal/pycore_ceval.h
@@ -13,7 +13,11 @@ struct pyruntimestate;
 struct _ceval_runtime_state;
 
 #ifndef Py_DEFAULT_RECURSION_LIMIT
-#  define Py_DEFAULT_RECURSION_LIMIT 1000
+#  ifdef Py_DEBUG
+#    define Py_DEFAULT_RECURSION_LIMIT 850
+#  else
+#    define Py_DEFAULT_RECURSION_LIMIT 1000
+#  endif
 #endif
 
 #include "pycore_interp.h"        // PyInterpreterState.eval_frame
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_compile.py b/Lib/test/test_compile.py
index 096501513c14bb..c758d423687aba 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_compile.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_compile.py
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ def __getitem__(self, key):
         self.assertEqual(d['z'], 12)
 
     def test_extended_arg(self):
-        longexpr = 'x = x or ' + '-x' * 2500
+        longexpr = 'x = x or ' + '-x' * 2000
         g = {}
         code = '''
 def f(x):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2022-01-31-13-50-05.bpo-46329.KlwVAt.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2022-01-31-13-50-05.bpo-46329.KlwVAt.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..06f936116a5a00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2022-01-31-13-50-05.bpo-46329.KlwVAt.rst	
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Temporarily reduce default recursion to 800 for debug builds. This prevents
+C stack overflows with Clang debug builds.