If something for sale is pre-owned, another person already had it and used it. Car lots, phone shops, and shiny websites love this word because it sounds cleaner than used or second-hand. A pre-owned car has already been driven; a pre-owned watch has already lived on someone's wrist. The thing is not new — though actually the word tries not to say old. It only says someone owned it first. In everyday talk, people still say used. You meet pre-owned most in adverts for things that cost a lot, where the seller wants the object to feel looked after, not worn out.