diff --git a/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js b/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js
index cd7d08caf0a0f8..ab79bd45eb2801 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js
@@ -1688,7 +1688,7 @@ assert.strictEqual(
 assert.strictEqual(
   inspect(
     { a200: 4, a100: 1, a102: 3, a101: 2 },
-    { sorted(a, b) { return a < b; } }
+    { sorted(a, b) { return a === b ? 0 : (a < b ? 1 : -1); } }
   ),
   '{ a200: 4, a102: 3, a101: 2, a100: 1 }'
 );