Does company-wide require a hyphen, or can you use companywide?

Question

We use citywide, statewide, and countrywide. Is it OK to say "companywide"? Or does that word need to be hyphenated: company-wide?

The sentence I'm working with begins:

Provide the same data companywide ...

CDO says that all 3 alternative spellings are acceptable. – Edwin Ashworth May 10 '17 at 20:03 — Edwin Ashworth, May 10 '17 at 20:03

GrammaRay · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-10T18:58:35.200

1

Either is fine but (IMO) company-wide will feel more official to the average person, the reason being that since you'll find examples of both usages online, and the group that expects there to be a hyphen may view it as misused, while the group that didn't expect a hyphen but sees one is less likely to think it's misused (IMO).

Basically, including a hyphen has a less of a downside to surprise someone.

edited May 10 '17 at 18:58

answered May 10 '17 at 17:01

GrammaRay

141

good point I'll edit my answer. – GrammaRay May 10 '17 at 18:46

Does company-wide require a hyphen, or can you use companywide?

1 Answers1