diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index ed2d905f4358b..4bf040b8c8e20 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -457,6 +457,11 @@ def run(self):
     directives['linetrace'] = True
     macros = [('CYTHON_TRACE', '1'), ('CYTHON_TRACE_NOGIL', '1')]
 
+# in numpy>=1.16.0, silence build warnings about deprecated API usage
+#  we can't do anything about these warnings because they stem from
+#  cython+numpy version mismatches.
+macros.append(('NPY_NO_DEPRECATED_API', '0'))
+
 
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Specification of Dependencies