diff --git a/src/effects/CMakeLists.txt b/src/effects/CMakeLists.txt
index a851042a72..e74cb3f8d2 100644
--- a/src/effects/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/effects/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
-# KI18N Translation Domain for this library
-add_definitions(-DTRANSLATION_DOMAIN=\"kwin_effects\" -DEFFECT_BUILTINS)
-
 add_subdirectory(private)
 
 
 function(kwin_add_effect_config name)
     list(REMOVE_ITEM ARGV ${name})
     kcoreaddons_add_plugin(${name} INSTALL_NAMESPACE "kwin/effects/configs" SOURCES ${ARGV})
+    target_compile_definitions(${name} PRIVATE -DTRANSLATION_DOMAIN=\"kwin_effects\")
 endfunction()
 
 # Add a CMake-time check for python3 to avoid failures during build.
@@ -30,6 +28,7 @@ endfunction()
 
 macro(kwin_add_builtin_effect name)
     kcoreaddons_add_plugin(${name} STATIC SOURCES ${ARGN} INSTALL_NAMESPACE "kwin/effects/plugins")
+    target_compile_definitions(${name} PRIVATE -DTRANSLATION_DOMAIN=\"kwin_effects\")
     set_property(TARGET ${name} PROPERTY POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE ON)
     kwin_strip_builtin_effect_metadata(${name} metadata.json)
     install(FILES metadata.json DESTINATION ${KDE_INSTALL_DATADIR}/kwin/builtin-effects/ RENAME ${name}.json)