diff --git a/compat/compat.h b/compat/compat.h
index 7767fe84..b2e27368 100644
--- a/compat/compat.h
+++ b/compat/compat.h
@@ -46,6 +46,14 @@ getdelim (char **lineptr, size_t *n, int delimiter, FILE *fp);
 char* strcasestr(const char *haystack, const char *needle);
 #endif /* !HAVE_STRCASESTR */
 
+/* Silence gcc warnings about unused results.  These warnings exist
+ * for a reason; any use of this needs to be justified. */
+#ifdef __GNUC__
+#define IGNORE_RESULT(x) ({ __typeof__(x) __z = (x); (void)(__z = __z); })
+#else /* !__GNUC__ */
+#define IGNORE_RESULT(x) x
+#endif /* __GNUC__ */
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/notmuch-new.c b/notmuch-new.c
index 3512de72..a569a544 100644
--- a/notmuch-new.c
+++ b/notmuch-new.c
@@ -67,7 +67,11 @@ handle_sigint (unused (int sig))
 {
     static char msg[] = "Stopping...         \n";
 
-    (void) write(2, msg, sizeof(msg)-1);
+    /* This write is "opportunistic", so it's okay to ignore the
+     * result.  It is not required for correctness, and if it does
+     * fail or produce a short write, we want to get out of the signal
+     * handler as quickly as possible, not retry it. */
+    IGNORE_RESULT (write (2, msg, sizeof(msg)-1));
     interrupted = 1;
 }
 
diff --git a/notmuch-tag.c b/notmuch-tag.c
index 292c5da3..44fd61f6 100644
--- a/notmuch-tag.c
+++ b/notmuch-tag.c
@@ -26,7 +26,12 @@ static void
 handle_sigint (unused (int sig))
 {
     static char msg[] = "Stopping...         \n";
-    (void) write(2, msg, sizeof(msg)-1);
+
+    /* This write is "opportunistic", so it's okay to ignore the
+     * result.  It is not required for correctness, and if it does
+     * fail or produce a short write, we want to get out of the signal
+     * handler as quickly as possible, not retry it. */
+    IGNORE_RESULT (write (2, msg, sizeof(msg)-1));
     interrupted = 1;
 }