diff --git a/doc/PROFILES.md b/doc/PROFILES.md
index d39091e3..2ca7cd14 100644
--- a/doc/PROFILES.md
+++ b/doc/PROFILES.md
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ without including them in the jar, or you may want to have Swank
 Clojure available in every project you hack on without modifying every
 single project.clj you use.
 
-By default the `:dev`, `:user`, and `:default` profiles are activated
+By default the `:dev`, `:user`, and `:base` profiles are activated
 for each task, but the settings they provide are not propagated
 downstream to projects that depend upon yours. Each profile is defined
 as a map which gets merged into your project map.
@@ -74,19 +74,6 @@ vectors even though they behave like maps (because it only makes sense
 to have a single version of a given dependency present at once). The
 replace/displace metadata hints still apply though.
 
-## Composite Profiles
-
-Sometimes it is useful to define a profile as a combination of other
-profiles. To do this, just use a vector instead of a map as the profile value.
-This can be used to avoid duplication:
-
-```clj
-{:shared {:port 9229, :protocol \"https\"}
- :qa [:shared {:servers [\"qa.mycorp.com\"]}]
- :stage [:shared {:servers [\"stage.mycorp.com\"]}]
- :production [:shared {:servers [\"prod1.mycorp.com\", \"prod1.mycorp.com\"]}]}
-```
-
 ## Activating Profiles
 
 Another use of profiles is to test against various sets of dependencies:
@@ -114,6 +101,24 @@ Multiple profiles may be executed in series with colons:
 
     $ lein with-profile 1.3:1.4 test :database
 
+## Composite Profiles
+
+Sometimes it is useful to define a profile as a combination of other
+profiles. To do this, just use a vector instead of a map as the profile value.
+This can be used to avoid duplication:
+
+```clj
+{:shared {:port 9229, :protocol \"https\"}
+ :qa [:shared {:servers [\"qa.mycorp.com\"]}]
+ :stage [:shared {:servers [\"stage.mycorp.com\"]}]
+ :production [:shared {:servers [\"prod1.mycorp.com\", \"prod1.mycorp.com\"]}]}
+```
+
+Composite profiles are used by Leiningen internally for the `:default` profile,
+which is the profile used if you don't change it using `with-profile`. The
+`:default` profile is defined to be a composite of `[:dev :user :base]`, but you
+can change this in your `project.clj` just like any other profile.
+
 ## Debugging
 
 To see how a given profile affects your project map, use the
diff --git a/leiningen-core/src/leiningen/core/project.clj b/leiningen-core/src/leiningen/core/project.clj
index 1d076f61..7dcb2e67 100755
--- a/leiningen-core/src/leiningen/core/project.clj
+++ b/leiningen-core/src/leiningen/core/project.clj
@@ -149,11 +149,12 @@
 (def default-profiles
   "Profiles get merged into the project map. The :dev and :user
   profiles are active by default."
-  (atom {:default {:resource-paths ["dev-resources"]
-                   :plugins [['lein-newnew "0.3.4"]]
-                   :checkout-deps-shares [:source-paths
-                                          :resource-paths
-                                          :compile-path]}
+  (atom {:default [:dev :user :base]
+         :base {:resource-paths ["dev-resources"]
+                :plugins [['lein-newnew "0.3.4"]]
+                :checkout-deps-shares [:source-paths
+                                       :resource-paths
+                                       :compile-path]}
          :leiningen/test {:injections [hooke-injection]}
          :update {:update :always}
          :offline {:offline? true}
@@ -346,5 +347,5 @@
          (ns-unmap 'leiningen.core.project 'project)
          (-> (reduce apply-middleware @project (:middleware @project))
              (merge-profiles profiles)))))
-  ([file] (read file [:dev :user :default]))
+  ([file] (read file [:default]))
   ([] (read "project.clj")))
diff --git a/leiningen-core/test/leiningen/core/test/project.clj b/leiningen-core/test/leiningen/core/test/project.clj
index 0ed115c6..e1114b19 100755
--- a/leiningen-core/test/leiningen/core/test/project.clj
+++ b/leiningen-core/test/leiningen/core/test/project.clj
@@ -149,6 +149,19 @@
                (merge-profiles [:a])
                (dissoc :profiles))))))
 
+(deftest test-override-default
+  (let [expected-result {:A 1, :B 2, :C 3
+                         :repositories {"central" {:url "http://repo1.maven.org/maven2"}
+                                        "clojars" {:url "https://clojars.org/repo/"}}
+                         :dependencies [], :compile-path "classes"}]
+    (is (= expected-result
+           (-> {:profiles {:a {:A 1 :B 2}
+                           :b {:B 2 :C 2}
+                           :c {:C 3}
+                           :default [:c :b :a]}}
+               (merge-profiles [:default])
+               (dissoc :profiles))))))
+
 (deftest test-unmerge-profiles
   (let [expected-result {:A 1 :C 3 :profiles {:a {:A 1}
                                               :b {:B 2}
diff --git a/src/leiningen/jar.clj b/src/leiningen/jar.clj
index b10b6b2b..3eee8b1b 100644
--- a/src/leiningen/jar.clj
+++ b/src/leiningen/jar.clj
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ Create a $PROJECT-$VERSION.jar file containing project's source files as well
 as .class files if applicable. If project.clj contains a :main key, the -main
 function in that namespace will be used as the main-class for executable jar."
   [project]
-  (let [project (project/unmerge-profiles project [:default :dev :user])]
+  (let [project (project/unmerge-profiles project [:default])]
     (eval/prep project)
     (let [jar-file (get-jar-filename project)]
       (write-jar project jar-file (filespecs project []))
diff --git a/src/leiningen/uberjar.clj b/src/leiningen/uberjar.clj
index 1eb8ffac..6aa7d38e 100644
--- a/src/leiningen/uberjar.clj
+++ b/src/leiningen/uberjar.clj
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ as well as defining a -main function."
          (with-open [out (-> standalone-filename
                              (FileOutputStream.)
                              (ZipOutputStream.))]
-           (let [project (project/unmerge-profiles project [:default :dev :user])
+           (let [project (project/unmerge-profiles project [:default])
                  deps (->> (classpath/resolve-dependencies :dependencies project)
                            (filter #(.endsWith (.getName %) ".jar")))
                  jars (cons (io/file (jar/get-jar-filename project)) deps)]