diff --git a/clion-common/src/main/java/org/sonarlint/intellij/clion/common/AnalyzerConfiguration.java b/clion-common/src/main/java/org/sonarlint/intellij/clion/common/AnalyzerConfiguration.java
index 0bf449d6c9..e7cd57e740 100644
--- a/clion-common/src/main/java/org/sonarlint/intellij/clion/common/AnalyzerConfiguration.java
+++ b/clion-common/src/main/java/org/sonarlint/intellij/clion/common/AnalyzerConfiguration.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 import com.jetbrains.cidr.lang.workspace.headerRoots.HeadersSearchPath;
 import com.jetbrains.cidr.project.workspace.CidrWorkspace;
 import java.lang.reflect.Method;
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
@@ -176,9 +177,13 @@ public static String getPreprocessorDefines(OCCompilerSettings compilerSettings)
       throw new IllegalStateException(e);
     }
     if (result instanceof List) {
-      return String.join("\n", (List<String>) result) + "\n";
-    } else if (result instanceof String) {
-      return result + "\n";
+      return ((List<String>) result).stream()
+        .map(String::trim)
+        .collect(Collectors.joining("\n")) + "\n";
+    } else if (result instanceof String resultString) {
+      return Arrays.stream(resultString.split("\n"))
+        .map(String::trim)
+        .collect(Collectors.joining("\n")) + "\n";
     } else {
       throw new IllegalStateException(result.toString());
     }
diff --git a/clion-common/src/test/java/org/sonarlint/intellij/clion/common/AnalyzerConfigurationTest.java b/clion-common/src/test/java/org/sonarlint/intellij/clion/common/AnalyzerConfigurationTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a4ec5f48cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/clion-common/src/test/java/org/sonarlint/intellij/clion/common/AnalyzerConfigurationTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/*
+ * SonarLint for IntelliJ IDEA
+ * Copyright (C) 2015-2024 SonarSource
+ * sonarlint@sonarsource.com
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+ * version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+ * Lesser General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02
+ */
+package org.sonarlint.intellij.clion.common;
+
+import com.jetbrains.cidr.lang.workspace.OCCompilerSettings;
+import java.util.List;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+class AnalyzerConfigurationTest {
+  @Test
+  void testPreprocessorDefines() {
+    var compilerSettings = mock(OCCompilerSettings.class);
+    when(compilerSettings.getPreprocessorDefines()).thenReturn(List.of(
+      "#define a b", "#define c d ", "   #define e f     ", " #define g h", " #define i j"));
+
+    var preprocessorDefines = AnalyzerConfiguration.getPreprocessorDefines(compilerSettings);
+    assertEquals("#define a b\n#define c d\n#define e f\n#define g h\n#define i j\n", preprocessorDefines);
+  }
+}