diff --git a/misc/levenshtein.cpp b/misc/levenshtein.cpp
index d8ea045..c1f3ef8 100644
--- a/misc/levenshtein.cpp
+++ b/misc/levenshtein.cpp
@@ -31,7 +31,14 @@ using DistanceArray = MultiArray<size_t, NoneOwningMultiArray, size_t, size_t>;
 void initDistanceArray(DistanceArray &distanceArray, const size_t size1, const size_t size2)
 {
     const auto maxDistance(size1 + size2);
+    // ignore warning about null pointer dereference for now (which is *likely* not correct)
+#ifdef __GNUC__
+#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wnull-dereference"
+#endif
     distanceArray.at(0, 0) = maxDistance;
+#ifdef __GNUC__
+#pragma GCC diagnostic pop
+#endif
     for (size_t i = 0; i <= size1; ++i) {
         distanceArray.at(i + 1, 1) = i;
         distanceArray.at(i + 1, 0) = maxDistance;