Preapproved, pre-approved or pre approved?

Question

Just wondering which is correct in this sentence:

And, I think that was someone spamming, pretending to have a convo. Because they have to be preapproved before they show up on my blog.

Answer 1

If it's about spelling, don't bother much. Both are in practice. Some examples from COCA. But yes, don't use 'pre approved'.

"This is one of the reasons it is so important for buyers to talk with a loan officer and get pre-approved before they start looking," he said. - Chicago Sun-Times

In the aftermath of 9/11, they have emerged as advocates of border controls that enhance security without hampering trade flows, such as the expedited passage of pre-approved trucks - Hemisphere, A Magazine of the Americas

And...

But chemical dispersants aren't preapproved for use in Alaska and would be considered only when other response measures aren't working - Environmental Health Perspectives

So I pulled out my computer, looked up the UnitedHealthcare list of preapproved doctors and started calling - Washington Post

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It's interesting to know that both the formats have been used in almost equal frequencies (COCA results of 48 'pre-approved' over 59 'preapproved').

Answer 2

None of them are correct.

In your example you would simply say approved.

The addition of the prefix pre has no meaning for words such as approve.
It implies something that is done before approval. Therefore, pre-approved means not yet approved.

You do find meaningless phrases like pre-approved and pre-booked used by marketers and advertisers but they cannot be recommended in good English.

Answer 3

pre approved

is wrong because you can't separate a prefix to be a word by itself.

preapproved

is the best choice. A quick dictionary check only lists preapprove, not pre-approve.

I could find some usage of pre-approved but that might just be poor usage.