diff --git a/norpm/macro.py b/norpm/macro.py
index e009ea1..7da6041 100644
--- a/norpm/macro.py
+++ b/norpm/macro.py
@@ -162,6 +162,15 @@ def is_macro_name(name):
     return all(is_macro_character(c) for c in name)
 
 
+def drop_curly_brackets(call):
+    """
+    Drop curly brackets from macro call.
+    """
+    if call.startswith("%{"):
+        return call[2:-1]
+    return call[1:]
+
+
 def parse_macro_call(call):
     """Given a macro call, return 4-ary
         (success, name, conditionals, params)
@@ -175,10 +184,7 @@ def parse_macro_call(call):
     # pylint: disable=too-many-branches
     success = True
 
-    if call.startswith("%{"):
-        call = call[2:-1]
-    else:
-        call = call[1:]
+    call = drop_curly_brackets(call)
 
     conditionals = set()
     name = ""
diff --git a/norpm/specfile.py b/norpm/specfile.py
index e646166..e909793 100644
--- a/norpm/specfile.py
+++ b/norpm/specfile.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 import re
 
 from norpm.tokenize import tokenize, Special, BRACKET_TYPES, OPENING_BRACKETS
-from norpm.macro import is_macro_character, parse_macro_call
+from norpm.macro import is_macro_character, parse_macro_call, drop_curly_brackets
 from norpm.macrofile import macrofile_parse, macrofile_split_generator
 from norpm.getopt import getopt
 from norpm.logging import get_logger
@@ -583,7 +583,8 @@ def _expand_snippet(context, snippet, definitions, depth=0):
     if _isdef_start(snippet):
         if not context.expanding:
             return ""
-        _, params = snippet[1:].split(maxsplit=1)
+        call = drop_curly_brackets(snippet)
+        _, params = call.split(maxsplit=1)
         macrofile_parse("%" + params, definitions, inspec=True)
         return ""
 
@@ -886,11 +887,11 @@ def _specfile_expand_generator(context, content, macros):
 def _isdef_start(string, keywords=None):
     if keywords is None:
         keywords = ["global", "define"]
-    for pfx in keywords:
-        pfx = "%" + pfx
-        if string.startswith(pfx):
-            if string[len(pfx):][0] in ["\t", " "]:
-                return True
+    for mpfx in keywords:
+        for pfx in [f"%{mpfx}", f"%{{{mpfx}"]:
+            if string.startswith(pfx):
+                if string[len(pfx):][0] in ["\t", " "]:
+                    return True
     return False
 
 
@@ -929,7 +930,8 @@ def _specfile_expand_string_generator(context, string, macros, depth=0,
             if not context.expanding:
                 continue
 
-            _, definition = buffer.split(maxsplit=1)
+            definition = drop_curly_brackets(buffer)
+            _, definition = definition.split(maxsplit=1)
             expanded_def = specfile_expand_string(definition, macros, depth+1)
             for name, body, params in macrofile_split_generator('%' + expanded_def, inspec=True):
                 macros[name] = (body, params)
diff --git a/tests/test_spec_expansion.py b/tests/test_spec_expansion.py
index 8baae61..71ed9c0 100644
--- a/tests/test_spec_expansion.py
+++ b/tests/test_spec_expansion.py
@@ -473,3 +473,21 @@ def test_quote_and_gsub_and_doublestar():
 1.2.3.4
 epoch
 """
+
+
+def test_definition_with_curly_brackets():
+    """
+    Test '%{define foo 1}' and '%{global foo 1}'
+    """
+    spec= """\
+%{global hello 1}%hello
+%{define world 2}%world
+%{define with_space   %{quote: a b c}  }%with_space
+%[ %{global hello 3} || %{define world 4} ]%hello%world
+"""
+    assert specfile_expand(spec, MacroRegistry()) == """\
+1
+2
+ a b c
+034
+"""