diff --git a/frontends/verilog/preproc.cc b/frontends/verilog/preproc.cc
index c451c4c20..de707593f 100644
--- a/frontends/verilog/preproc.cc
+++ b/frontends/verilog/preproc.cc
@@ -477,7 +477,16 @@ static bool try_expand_macro(define_map_t &defines, std::string &tok)
 	std::string name = tok.substr(1);
 	std::string skipped_spaces = skip_spaces();
 	tok = next_token(false);
-	if (tok == "(" && body->has_args) {
+	if (body->has_args) {
+		if (tok != "(") {
+			if (tok.size() == 1 && iscntrl(tok[0])) {
+				char buf[5];
+				snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "\\x%02x", tok[0]);
+				tok = buf;
+			}
+			log_error("Expected to find '(' to begin macro arguments for '%s', but instead found '%s'\n",
+				name.c_str(), tok.c_str());
+		}
 		std::vector<std::string> args;
 		bool done = false;
 		while (!done) {
diff --git a/tests/verilog/macro_unapplied.ys b/tests/verilog/macro_unapplied.ys
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..81eb10b8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/verilog/macro_unapplied.ys
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+logger -expect-no-warnings
+read_verilog -sv <<EOT
+`define MACRO(a = 1, b = 2) initial $display("MACRO(a = %d, b = %d)", a, b)
+module top;
+    `MACRO();
+endmodule
+EOT
+
+design -reset
+
+logger -expect error "Expected to find '\(' to begin macro arguments for 'MACRO', but instead found ';'" 1
+read_verilog -sv <<EOT
+`define MACRO(a = 1, b = 2) initial $display("MACRO(a = %d, b = %d)", a, b)
+module top;
+    `MACRO;
+endmodule
+EOT
diff --git a/tests/verilog/macro_unapplied_newline.ys b/tests/verilog/macro_unapplied_newline.ys
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a3f88d5b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/verilog/macro_unapplied_newline.ys
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+logger -expect error "Expected to find '\(' to begin macro arguments for 'foo', but instead found '\\x0a'" 1
+read_verilog -sv <<EOT
+`define foo(a=1) (a)
+`foo
+EOT