diff --git a/docs/reference/gtk/gtk4-sections.txt b/docs/reference/gtk/gtk4-sections.txt
index d51b9d0e9f..302d1ad0be 100644
--- a/docs/reference/gtk/gtk4-sections.txt
+++ b/docs/reference/gtk/gtk4-sections.txt
@@ -1831,7 +1831,6 @@ GtkIMContextSimple
 gtk_im_context_simple_new
 gtk_im_context_simple_add_table
 gtk_im_context_simple_add_compose_file
-GTK_MAX_COMPOSE_LEN
 <SUBSECTION Standard>
 GTK_IM_CONTEXT_SIMPLE
 GTK_IS_IM_CONTEXT_SIMPLE
diff --git a/gtk/gtkimcontextsimple.c b/gtk/gtkimcontextsimple.c
index 9271277c07..bbd815e8ae 100644
--- a/gtk/gtkimcontextsimple.c
+++ b/gtk/gtkimcontextsimple.c
@@ -1319,7 +1319,6 @@ gtk_im_context_simple_get_preedit_string (GtkIMContext   *context,
  * @context_simple: A #GtkIMContextSimple
  * @data: (array): the table
  * @max_seq_len: Maximum length of a sequence in the table
- *               (cannot be greater than #GTK_MAX_COMPOSE_LEN)
  * @n_seqs: number of sequences in the table
  *
  * Adds an additional table to search to the input context.
@@ -1339,7 +1338,6 @@ gtk_im_context_simple_add_table (GtkIMContextSimple *context_simple,
 				 int                 n_seqs)
 {
   g_return_if_fail (GTK_IS_IM_CONTEXT_SIMPLE (context_simple));
-  g_return_if_fail (max_seq_len <= GTK_MAX_COMPOSE_LEN);
 
   G_LOCK (global_tables);
 
diff --git a/gtk/gtkimcontextsimple.h b/gtk/gtkimcontextsimple.h
index e25cd4d216..7bd4454b1c 100644
--- a/gtk/gtkimcontextsimple.h
+++ b/gtk/gtkimcontextsimple.h
@@ -27,10 +27,9 @@
 
 G_BEGIN_DECLS
 
-/**
- * GTK_MAX_COMPOSE_LEN:
- *
- * The maximum length of sequences in compose tables.
+/*
+ * No longer used by GTK, just left here on the off chance that some
+ * 3rd party code used this define.
  */
 #define GTK_MAX_COMPOSE_LEN 7