diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-10-02-16-19-35.gh-issue-158592.V6W21J.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-10-02-16-19-35.gh-issue-158592.V6W21J.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..a2c8cdd2233c31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-10-02-16-19-35.gh-issue-158592.V6W21J.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Avoid holding memory much longer than needed after deleting
+an item from a list via :keyword:`del`.
diff --git a/Objects/listobject.c b/Objects/listobject.c
index 81eb3e1102159b..3f0c51904dec2d 100644
--- a/Objects/listobject.c
+++ b/Objects/listobject.c
@@ -1148,7 +1148,7 @@ list_ass_item_lock_held(PyListObject *a, Py_ssize_t i, PyObject *v)
         for (Py_ssize_t idx = i; idx < size - 1; idx++) {
             FT_ATOMIC_STORE_PTR_RELEASE(a->ob_item[idx], a->ob_item[idx + 1]);
         }
-        Py_SET_SIZE(a, size - 1);
+        list_resize(a, size - 1);  // NB: shrinking a list can't fail
     }
     else {
         FT_ATOMIC_STORE_PTR_RELEASE(a->ob_item[i], Py_NewRef(v));