diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-cloudwatch/lib/metric.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-cloudwatch/lib/metric.ts
index 5068187f9b9ae..770c3604c3c5a 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-cloudwatch/lib/metric.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-cloudwatch/lib/metric.ts
@@ -609,9 +609,9 @@ export class MathExpression implements IMetric {
     // we can add warnings.
     const missingIdentifiers = allIdentifiersInExpression(this.expression).filter(i => !this.usingMetrics[i]);
 
-    const warnings = [];
+    const warnings: string[] = [];
 
-    if (!this.expression.toUpperCase().match('\\s*SELECT\\s.*') && missingIdentifiers.length > 0) {
+    if (!this.expression.toUpperCase().match('\\s*SELECT|SEARCH|METRICS\\s.*') && missingIdentifiers.length > 0) {
       warnings.push(`Math expression '${this.expression}' references unknown identifiers: ${missingIdentifiers.join(', ')}. Please add them to the 'usingMetrics' map.`);
     }
 
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-cloudwatch/test/metric-math.test.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-cloudwatch/test/metric-math.test.ts
index 72e61cbd0a19a..24ffebfcfb76f 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-cloudwatch/test/metric-math.test.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-cloudwatch/test/metric-math.test.ts
@@ -75,6 +75,24 @@ describe('Metric Math', () => {
     expect(m.warnings).toContainEqual(expect.stringContaining("'m1 + m2' references unknown identifiers"));
   });
 
+  test('metrics METRICS expression does not produce warning for unknown identifier', () => {
+    const m = new MathExpression({
+      expression: 'SUM(METRICS())',
+      usingMetrics: {},
+    });
+
+    expect(m.warnings).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  test('metrics search expression does not produce warning for unknown identifier', () => {
+    const m = new MathExpression({
+      expression: "SEARCH('{dimension_one, dimension_two} my_metric', 'Average', 300)",
+      usingMetrics: {},
+    });
+
+    expect(m.warnings).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
   test('metrics insights expression does not produce warning for unknown identifier', () => {
     const m = new MathExpression({
       expression: "SELECT AVG(CpuUsage) FROM EC2 WHERE Instance = '123456'",