diff --git a/Changes b/Changes
index 7e75f225d..0bc7b655f 100644
--- a/Changes
+++ b/Changes
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ The contributors that suggested a given feature are shown in []. Thanks!
 
 ****  Fix tracing -1 index arrays. Closes #2090. [Yutetsu Takatsukasa]
 
+****  Fix expand optimization slowing --lint-only. Closes #2091. [Thomas Watts]
+
 
 * Verilator 4.024 2019-12-08
 
diff --git a/src/Verilator.cpp b/src/Verilator.cpp
index 332b64f0b..b3ce68a12 100644
--- a/src/Verilator.cpp
+++ b/src/Verilator.cpp
@@ -470,7 +470,8 @@ void process() {
     }
 
     // Expand macros and wide operators into C++ primitives
-    if (!v3Global.opt.xmlOnly()
+    if (!v3Global.opt.lintOnly()
+        && !v3Global.opt.xmlOnly()
         && v3Global.opt.oExpand()) {
         V3Expand::expandAll(v3Global.rootp());
     }