diff --git a/lib/internal/process/next_tick.js b/lib/internal/process/next_tick.js
index f27ef622a9..bc89c6e8b2 100644
--- a/lib/internal/process/next_tick.js
+++ b/lib/internal/process/next_tick.js
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 'use strict';
 
+// This value is used to prevent the nextTickQueue from becoming too
+// large and cause the process to run out of memory. When this value
+// is reached the nextTimeQueue array will be shortend (see tickDone
+// for details).
+const kMaxCallbacksUntilQueueIsShortened = 1e4;
+
 exports.setup = setupNextTick;
 
 function setupNextTick() {
@@ -96,7 +102,7 @@ function setupNextTick() {
         // callback invocation with small numbers of arguments to avoid the
         // performance hit associated with using `fn.apply()`
         _combinedTickCallback(args, callback);
-        if (1e4 < tickInfo[kIndex])
+        if (kMaxCallbacksUntilQueueIsShortened < tickInfo[kIndex])
           tickDone();
       }
       tickDone();
@@ -120,7 +126,7 @@ function setupNextTick() {
         // callback invocation with small numbers of arguments to avoid the
         // performance hit associated with using `fn.apply()`
         _combinedTickCallback(args, callback);
-        if (1e4 < tickInfo[kIndex])
+        if (kMaxCallbacksUntilQueueIsShortened < tickInfo[kIndex])
           tickDone();
         if (domain)
           domain.exit();