diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -59,6 +59,9 @@ include(BuildQColorWidgets)
 # includes
 include_directories("./src" ${QWT_INCLUDE_DIR} ${QCW_INCLUDE_DIR})
 
+# flags
+set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} ${QCW_FLAGS}")
+
 # wrap UI and resource files
 qt5_wrap_ui(UI_FILES
   src/mainwindow.ui
diff --git a/cmake/modules/BuildQColorWidgets.cmake b/cmake/modules/BuildQColorWidgets.cmake
--- a/cmake/modules/BuildQColorWidgets.cmake
+++ b/cmake/modules/BuildQColorWidgets.cmake
@@ -23,9 +23,11 @@ ExternalProject_Add(QCW
   PREFIX qcw
   GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/mbasaglia/Qt-Color-Widgets
   PATCH_COMMAND patch -t -N -p1 -i ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/qt_5_2_moc_creation_namespace_fix.diff
+  CMAKE_CACHE_ARGS "-DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS:string=-D QTCOLORWIDGETS_STATICALLY_LINKED"
   UPDATE_COMMAND ""
   INSTALL_COMMAND "")
 
 ExternalProject_Get_Property(QCW binary_dir source_dir)
+set(QCW_FLAGS "-D QTCOLORWIDGETS_STATICALLY_LINKED")
 set(QCW_LIBRARY ${binary_dir}/libColorWidgets-qt5.a)
 set(QCW_INCLUDE_DIR ${source_dir}/include)