diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 794365115b3..291fb4c1ca2 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ What's New in Python 3.3.1?
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
 
+- Issue #16588: Silence unused-but-set warnings in Python/thread_pthread
+
 - Issue #16546: Fix: ast.YieldFrom argument is now mandatory.
 
 - Issue #16514: Fix regression causing a traceback when sys.path[0] is None
diff --git a/Python/thread_pthread.h b/Python/thread_pthread.h
index 5007aaf0b71..49713ced271 100644
--- a/Python/thread_pthread.h
+++ b/Python/thread_pthread.h
@@ -303,6 +303,7 @@ PyThread_free_lock(PyThread_type_lock lock)
     sem_t *thelock = (sem_t *)lock;
     int status, error = 0;
 
+    (void) error; /* silence unused-but-set-variable warning */
     dprintf(("PyThread_free_lock(%p) called\n", lock));
 
     if (!thelock)
@@ -335,6 +336,7 @@ PyThread_acquire_lock_timed(PyThread_type_lock lock, PY_TIMEOUT_T microseconds,
     int status, error = 0;
     struct timespec ts;
 
+    (void) error; /* silence unused-but-set-variable warning */
     dprintf(("PyThread_acquire_lock_timed(%p, %lld, %d) called\n",
              lock, microseconds, intr_flag));
 
@@ -385,6 +387,7 @@ PyThread_release_lock(PyThread_type_lock lock)
     sem_t *thelock = (sem_t *)lock;
     int status, error = 0;
 
+    (void) error; /* silence unused-but-set-variable warning */
     dprintf(("PyThread_release_lock(%p) called\n", lock));
 
     status = sem_post(thelock);