diff --git a/Lib/test/test_complex.py b/Lib/test/test_complex.py
index b057121f285..fa3017b24e1 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_complex.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_complex.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import operator
 
 INF = float("inf")
 NAN = float("nan")
+DBL_MAX = sys.float_info.max
 # These tests ensure that complex math does the right thing
 
 ZERO_DIVISION = (
@@ -597,6 +598,8 @@ class ComplexTest(unittest.TestCase):
         for num in nums:
             self.assertAlmostEqual((num.real**2 + num.imag**2)  ** 0.5, abs(num))
 
+        self.assertRaises(OverflowError, abs, complex(DBL_MAX, DBL_MAX))
+
     def test_repr_str(self):
         def test(v, expected, test_fn=self.assertEqual):
             test_fn(repr(v), expected)