diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py
index f5d9c7c45ccc6b2b6bf04ffeb35dad45cdbb292a..b3397419bdc1b8cbe6c08418aa043e0fdf7e40cc 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py
@@ -100,3 +100,13 @@ def configure_args(self):
             config_args.append('--with-included-libunistring')
 
         return config_args
+
+    def check(self):
+        # Test suite fails when run in parallel:
+        #
+        # FAIL: test-verify
+        # =================
+        #
+        # icc: error #10236: File not found:  'test-verify.o'
+        # FAIL test-verify (exit status: 1)
+        make('check', parallel=False)