"spaghetti code" meaning in English

See spaghetti code in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} spaghetti code (uncountable)
  1. (programming, derogatory, informal) Unstructured or poorly structured program source code. Tags: derogatory, informal, uncountable Synonyms: spaghetti Coordinate_terms: lasagna code, ravioli code
    Sense id: en-spaghetti_code-en-noun-u1cDHobi Categories (other): Programming, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 47 53 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 45 55 Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, programming, sciences
  2. (programming, derogatory, informal) Unstructured or poorly structured program source code.
    (programming, dated) Code with many GOTO statements or their equivalent.
    Tags: dated, derogatory, informal, uncountable Synonyms: spaghetti Coordinate_terms: lasagna code, ravioli code
    Sense id: en-spaghetti_code-en-noun-lG5L3w3P Categories (other): Programming, English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Bulgarian translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Mandarin translations, Terms with Polish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 43 57 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 47 53 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 45 55 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 36 64 Disambiguation of Terms with Bulgarian translations: 40 60 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 40 60 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 38 62 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 43 57 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 38 62 Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, programming, sciences
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: cable spaghetti, rat's nest, structured programming, tag soup Translations (Translations): спагети код (spageti kod) [masculine] (Bulgarian), 屎山 (shǐshān) (Chinese Mandarin), 屎山代碼 /屎山代码 (shǐshān dàimǎ) (Chinese Mandarin), spagettikoodi (Finnish), Spaghetticode [masculine] (German), źle zorganizowany kod [masculine] (Polish)
Disambiguation of 'Translations': 49 51

Alternative forms

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      "roman": "spageti kod",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "спагети код"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "shǐshān",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "屎山"
    },
    {
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      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
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      "roman": "shǐshān dàimǎ",
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      "word": "屎山代碼 /屎山代码"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "spagettikoodi"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Spaghetticode"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "źle zorganizowany kod"
    }
  ],
  "word": "spaghetti code"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-02-08 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-02-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.