diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-03-03-23-21-40.gh-issue-145446.0c-TJX.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-03-03-23-21-40.gh-issue-145446.0c-TJX.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..96eb0d9ddb07ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-03-03-23-21-40.gh-issue-145446.0c-TJX.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Now :mod:`functools` is safer in free-threaded build when using keywords in :func:`functools.partial`
diff --git a/Modules/_functoolsmodule.c b/Modules/_functoolsmodule.c
index d779376b191a5e..00c5b33acf2c02 100644
--- a/Modules/_functoolsmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/_functoolsmodule.c
@@ -646,6 +646,8 @@ partial_repr(PyObject *self)
         }
     }
     /* Pack keyword arguments */
+    int error = 0;
+    Py_BEGIN_CRITICAL_SECTION(kw);
     for (i = 0; PyDict_Next(kw, &i, &key, &value);) {
         /* Prevent key.__str__ from deleting the value. */
         Py_INCREF(value);
@@ -653,9 +655,14 @@ partial_repr(PyObject *self)
                                                 key, value));
         Py_DECREF(value);
         if (arglist == NULL) {
-            goto done;
+            error = 1;
+            break;
         }
     }
+    Py_END_CRITICAL_SECTION();
+    if (error) {
+        goto done;
+    }
 
     mod = PyType_GetModuleName(Py_TYPE(pto));
     if (mod == NULL) {