Quote Originally Posted by Cocos
Quote Originally Posted by ingberlin
"The memorial degenerated into a fairground."
I'd say "Мемориал выродился в торговую площадь."
Quote Originally Posted by ingberlin
But the Oxford dictionary says:
перерождение
1. regeneration
2. degeneration
That is quite the opposite.
I agree. I guess this Oxford Dictionary needs to be updated.

1. regeneration - возрождение, восстановление.

2. degeneration - вырождение.
Перерождение can indeed mean either regeneration or degeneration depending on context. The Oxford Dictionary is right. The word means literally a second birth of something/somebody, it can become better or worse. "Мемориал переродилстя в ярмарку" sounds fine (from the grammatical point of view I mean), may be too bookish. The words "переродился" и "перерос" are different and "перерос" doesn't fit the context.