diff --git a/core/include/kernel_defines.h b/core/include/kernel_defines.h
index 48900d7011..66d4eb7147 100644
--- a/core/include/kernel_defines.h
+++ b/core/include/kernel_defines.h
@@ -138,6 +138,84 @@
  */
 #define BUILD_BUG_ON(condition) ((void)sizeof(char[1 - 2 * !!(condition)]))
 
+/**
+ * @def         IS_ACTIVE(macro)
+ * @brief       Allows to verify a macro definition outside the preprocessor.
+ *
+ * @details     This macro is based on Linux's clever 'IS_BUILTIN'
+ *              (https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/include/linux/kconfig.h).
+ *              It takes a @p macro value that may be defined to 1 or not even
+ *              defined (e.g. FEATURE_FOO) and then expands it to an expression
+ *              that can be used in C code, either 1 or 0.
+ *
+ *              The advantage of using this is that the compiler sees all the
+ *              code, so checks can be performed, sections that would not be
+ *              executed are removed during optimization. For example:
+ * ```
+ * if (IS_ACTIVE(FEATURE_FOO)) {
+ *      do_something();
+ * }
+ * ```
+ * @param[in]   macro   Macro to evaluate
+ * @returns     1 if the macro is defined to 1
+ * @returns     0 if the macro is not defined, of if it is defined to something
+ *              else than 1.
+ *
+ * @note        This should only be used when macros are defined as 1, it will
+ *              not work if the macro value is, for example, (1) or 1U.
+ *
+ * @note        Although this may seem to work similarly to the preprocessor's
+ *              'defined', it is not entirely equal. If the given macro has
+ *              been defined with no value, this will expand to 0. Also note
+ *              that this is intended to be used with 'boolean' macros that act
+ *              as switches, and usually will be defined as 1 or not defined.
+ */
+#define IS_ACTIVE(macro) __is_active(macro)
+
+/**
+ * @def         IS_USED(module)
+ * @brief       Checks whether a module is being used or not. Can be used in C
+ *              conditionals.
+ *
+ * @param[in]   module   Module to check
+ * @returns     1 if the module is being used
+ * @returns     0 if the module is not being used
+ */
+#define IS_USED(module) IS_ACTIVE(module)
+
+/**
+ * @cond INTERNAL
+ */
+/* Here a prefix "__PREFIX_WHEN_" is added to the macro. So if it was a 1 we
+ * have "__PREFIX_WHEN_1", and if it was not defined we have "__PREFIX_WHEN_".
+ */
+#define __is_active(val)              ___is_active(__PREFIX_WHEN_##val)
+
+/* With this placeholder we turn the original value into two arguments when the
+ * original value was defined as 1 (note the comma).
+ */
+#define __PREFIX_WHEN_1 0,
+
+/* Here we add two extra arguments, that way the next macro can accept varargs.
+ *
+ * If the original macro was defined as 1, this will have three arguments
+ * (__take_second_arg(0, 1, 0, 0)), otherwise it will have two
+ * (__take_second_arg(__PREFIX_WHEN_ 1, 0, 0)). The third zero is there just to
+ * be compliant with C99, which states that when a function-like macro ends
+ * with ellipsis (...) it should be called with at least one argument for the
+ * variable list.
+ */
+#define ___is_active(arg1_or_junk)    __take_second_arg(arg1_or_junk 1, 0, 0)
+
+/* Finally, we just always take the second argument, which will be either 1
+ * (when three arguments are passed, i.e. macro was defined as 1) or 0 (when
+ * only two arguments are passed).
+ */
+#define __take_second_arg(__ignored, val, ...) val
+/**
+ * @endcond
+ */
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/makefiles/modules.inc.mk b/makefiles/modules.inc.mk
index 0426fc6e0b..772b3fa360 100644
--- a/makefiles/modules.inc.mk
+++ b/makefiles/modules.inc.mk
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 _ALLMODULES = $(sort $(USEMODULE) $(USEPKG))
 
 # Define MODULE_MODULE_NAME preprocessor macros for all modules.
+# Note: Some modules may be using the 'IS_USED' macro, defined in
+# kernel_defines.h, please refer to its documentation if you change the way
+# module macros are defined.
 ED = $(addprefix MODULE_,$(_ALLMODULES))
 # EXTDEFINES will be put in CFLAGS_WITH_MACROS
 EXTDEFINES = $(addprefix -D,$(call uppercase_and_underscore,$(ED)))