diff --git a/lisp/progmodes/xref.el b/lisp/progmodes/xref.el
index 2fd5e19237..aefee31897 100644
--- a/lisp/progmodes/xref.el
+++ b/lisp/progmodes/xref.el
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ xref-location-group
   "A match xref item describes a search result."
   length)
 
-(cl-defgeneric xref-match-length ((item xref-match-item))
+(cl-defmethod xref-match-length ((item xref-match-item))
   "Return the length of the match."
   (xref-match-item-length item))