spaghetti inheritance [encountered among users of {object-oriented} languages that use inheritance, such as {Smalltalk}] A convoluted {class}-subclass graph, often resulting from carelessly deriving subclasses from other classes just for the sake of reusing their code. Coined in a (successful) attempt to discourage such practice, through guilt-by-association with {spaghetti code}. [{Jargon File}]