diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index ee14ac4509..a30bad81f0 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ endif
 if USE_EXAMPLES
 noinst_PROGRAMS += ecdsa_example
 ecdsa_example_SOURCES = examples/ecdsa.c
-ecdsa_example_CPPFLAGS = -I$(top_srcdir)/include
+ecdsa_example_CPPFLAGS = -I$(top_srcdir)/include -DSECP256K1_STATICLIB
 ecdsa_example_LDADD = libsecp256k1.la
 ecdsa_example_LDFLAGS = -static
 if BUILD_WINDOWS
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ TESTS += ecdsa_example
 if ENABLE_MODULE_ECDH
 noinst_PROGRAMS += ecdh_example
 ecdh_example_SOURCES = examples/ecdh.c
-ecdh_example_CPPFLAGS = -I$(top_srcdir)/include
+ecdh_example_CPPFLAGS = -I$(top_srcdir)/include -DSECP256K1_STATICLIB
 ecdh_example_LDADD = libsecp256k1.la
 ecdh_example_LDFLAGS = -static
 if BUILD_WINDOWS
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ endif
 if ENABLE_MODULE_SCHNORRSIG
 noinst_PROGRAMS += schnorr_example
 schnorr_example_SOURCES = examples/schnorr.c
-schnorr_example_CPPFLAGS = -I$(top_srcdir)/include
+schnorr_example_CPPFLAGS = -I$(top_srcdir)/include -DSECP256K1_STATICLIB
 schnorr_example_LDADD = libsecp256k1.la
 schnorr_example_LDFLAGS = -static
 if BUILD_WINDOWS
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 82cf95132d..a502d1304a 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -127,12 +127,6 @@ AC_DEFUN([SECP_TRY_APPEND_DEFAULT_CFLAGS], [
       SECP_TRY_APPEND_CFLAGS([-wd4267], $1) # Disable warning C4267 "'var' : conversion from 'size_t' to 'type', possible loss of data".
       # Eliminate deprecation warnings for the older, less secure functions.
       CPPFLAGS="-D_CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS $CPPFLAGS"
-      # We pass -ignore:4217 to the MSVC linker to suppress warning 4217 when
-      # importing variables from a statically linked secp256k1.
-      # (See the libtool manual, section "Windows DLLs" for background.)
-      # Unfortunately, libtool tries to be too clever and strips "-Xlinker arg"
-      # into "arg", so this will be " -Xlinker -ignore:4217" after stripping.
-      LDFLAGS="-Xlinker -Xlinker -Xlinker -ignore:4217 $LDFLAGS" 
     fi
 ])
 SECP_TRY_APPEND_DEFAULT_CFLAGS(SECP_CFLAGS)
diff --git a/examples/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/CMakeLists.txt
index e095b7f84f..a314c1787c 100644
--- a/examples/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ target_link_libraries(example INTERFACE
   $<$<PLATFORM_ID:Windows>:bcrypt>
 )
 if(NOT BUILD_SHARED_LIBS AND MSVC)
-  target_link_options(example INTERFACE /IGNORE:4217)
+  target_compile_definitions(example INTERFACE SECP256K1_STATICLIB)
 endif()
 
 add_executable(ecdsa_example ecdsa.c)
diff --git a/include/secp256k1.h b/include/secp256k1.h
index 01d18cff09..cd9f3766d2 100644
--- a/include/secp256k1.h
+++ b/include/secp256k1.h
@@ -133,27 +133,56 @@ typedef int (*secp256k1_nonce_function)(
 # define SECP256K1_NO_BUILD
 #endif
 
-/* Symbol visibility. See https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/Visibility */
-/* DLL_EXPORT is defined internally for shared builds */
-#if defined(_WIN32)
-# ifdef SECP256K1_BUILD
-#  ifdef DLL_EXPORT
+/* Symbol visibility. */
+#if defined(_WIN32) || defined(__CYGWIN__)
+# if defined(SECP256K1_STATICLIB) && defined(SECP256K1_DLL)
+#  error "At most one of SECP256K1_STATICLIB and SECP256K1_DLL must be defined."
+# endif
+ /* GCC for Windows (e.g., MinGW) and for Cygwin accept the __declspec syntax
+  * for MSVC compatibility. A __declspec declaration implies (but is not
+  * exactly equivalent to) __attribute__ ((visibility("default"))), and so we
+  * actually want __declspec even on GCC, see "Microsoft Windows Function
+  * Attributes" in the GCC manual and the recommendations in
+  * https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/Visibility. */
+# if defined(SECP256K1_BUILD)
+#  if defined(SECP256K1_DLL) || defined(DLL_EXPORT) 
+   /* Building libsecp256k1 as a DLL. (DLL_EXPORT is a libtool convention.) */
 #   define SECP256K1_API            __declspec (dllexport)
 #   define SECP256K1_API_VAR extern __declspec (dllexport)
 #  endif
-# elif defined _MSC_VER
+# elif defined(SECP256K1_STATICLIB)
+   /* Linking against static libsecp256k1 requested explicitly. */
+#  define SECP256K1_API
+#  define SECP256K1_API_VAR  extern
+# elif defined(SECP256K1_DLL)
+   /* Linking against a libsecp256k1 DLL requested explicitly. */
+#  define SECP256K1_API             __declspec (dllimport)
+#  define SECP256K1_API_VAR  extern __declspec (dllimport)
+# elif defined(_MSC_VER)
+   /* No method requested explicitly. The following works on MSVC for both
+    * static and dynamic linking, as long as if at least one function is
+    * imported (i.e., not only variables are imported), which should be the case
+    * for any meaningful program that uses the libsecp256k1 API. The drawback of
+    * the following is that it may provoke linker warnings LNK4217 and LNK4286.
+    * See "Windows DLLs" in the libtool manual. */
 #  define SECP256K1_API
 #  define SECP256K1_API_VAR  extern __declspec (dllimport)
-# elif defined DLL_EXPORT
+# elif defined(DLL_EXPORT)
+   /* No method requested explicitly and we're not on MSVC. We make an educated
+    * guess based on libtool's DLL_EXPORT convention: If the importing program
+    * is itself a DLL, then it is likely that it also wants to consume
+    * libsecp256k1 as a DLL. See "Windows DLLs" in the libtool manual. */
 #  define SECP256K1_API             __declspec (dllimport)
 #  define SECP256K1_API_VAR  extern __declspec (dllimport)
 # endif
 #endif
 #ifndef SECP256K1_API
 # if defined(__GNUC__) && (__GNUC__ >= 4) && defined(SECP256K1_BUILD)
+   /* Building libsecp256k1 on non-Windows using GCC or compatible. */
 #  define SECP256K1_API             __attribute__ ((visibility ("default")))
 #  define SECP256K1_API_VAR  extern __attribute__ ((visibility ("default")))
 # else
+   /* All cases not captured above. */
 #  define SECP256K1_API
 #  define SECP256K1_API_VAR  extern
 # endif